On Wed, 2008-12-31 at 21:46 -0500, Joseph Apuzzo wrote: > > 1) What Rails over PHP? PHP has been vetted and scaled to large systems ( > Slash dot, Digg, etc ) why learn yet another language?
Ruby is the language. Rails is the web application framework. Some people say PHP is also a web framework. But then you'd have to say the same thing about Perl, Java, etc. In the end, I believe that while some language implementation features make it easier to run code as a web application, it doesn't make it a "web application framework" as the phrase is commonly used. Also, there are some PHP-based web frameworks out there. Just google "php web framework". Sticking with the original "Rails over PHP" premise, this is a funny string of videos comparing Rails and PHP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1NVfDlU6yQ&feature=related One reason to learn ruby coming from PHP is that it is more tailored for general use. Learn more here: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/ruby-from-other-languages/ > > 2) Can Rails scale? PHP has gone trought the growing pains to do so, again > more of a part 2 of question 1, technicaly is rails faster? us less > resources? easyer? Rails can scale. http://www.loudthinking.com/arc/000479.html > > 3) PHP has pre-canned frameworks like Drupal, Joomla! and Moodle what does > Rails have? Or is a Rails program always from scratch? Those are content management systems. There's RadiantCMS (http://radiantcms.org) and Rubricks (http://rubricks.org/index_en.html). > > 4) PHP has evolved like Perl has, there is a plugin for anything and > everything, what does Rails have? and how extensive is it? Perl has CPAN for its modules. PHP has Pear. Ruby has Gems. http://rubygems.org/ http://rubyforge.org/ Within a rails application, you can extend it with plugins: http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Plugins http://agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/list > > 5) You need to learn Rails fast, you only get to pick one book, what book > would you pick? "Agile Web Development with Rails" http://www.pragprog.com/titles/rails2/agile-web-development-with-rails There is a third edition coming out in March, but you can have beta access to it now: http://www.pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with-rails-third-edition --Renier _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Jan 7 - Ruby on Rails Feb 4 - TBD
