Learn Ruby on Rails or Python?
someoneoutthereishere asked: I have some experience with C, and am looking to learn a language that can do some web based stuff. I’ve done a bit of Perl, but don’t really want to learn it. PHP is there also, but again, seems like it may be a bit outdated(?)I’ve heard a lot about Ruby on Rails, but from the description on their website it seems to mainly be used for database driven sites. Python is also popular and seems to be learnable (for my level of experience). My web host supports both, so I’m mostly just looking for a direction on which would be more useful to learn. The projects I would like to use it for would not be strictly database driven things (which as mentioned seem to be Ruby’s specialty), just general web things like um for example a simple calculator or form processor or things like that. Any suggestions, and if so, why? Thank you!
Well i’m self learning Ruby on rails too, actually i don’t think it’s a difficult task and I doubt if Ruby can have a better performance than Java in the website building.
This is up to your preference. Take a look at the Ruby and Python languages and see which suits you better.
Rails is the de facto web framework for Ruby. Python has its own frameworks like Django, Turbogears, and so on.
> PHP is there also, but again, seems like it may be a bit outdated
PHP isn’t outdated, but many people don’t like the language (there are reasons).
> [Ruby] it seems to mainly be used for database driven sites.
You don’t need a database. But if you’re going to use Rails, you probably have a complex, dynamic website, which would be database powered (pretty much all serious websites). But you can easily write non database powered apps. In the MVC paradigm, you won’t have a model, just a view and controller.
Again, this sort of question will get you fans on either side. You need to find out what suits you best.