Ruby on Rails or simply Rails is a web framework that has been specifically designed to create websites as quickly as possible. As evident from its name, it runs on Ruby language. Acting as a natural programming language, RoR is specially designed to enhance developer’s productivity. Being a versatile framework, it allows you to create several types of applications and websites. Some of the famous websites built on Ruby on Rails are Twitter, Shopify, and GitHub.
Moreover, it also depicts how vast is the scope of Ruby on Rails in the sphere of web development. This is the reason why programmers learn Ruby on Rails and take it as a potential career with its trend worldwide. Ruby on Rails provides excellent Command Line (CLI) tools, file analysis capabilities & developer tools which helps in rapid development.
At the time of writing, 204,845 websites are up and running on RoR, which itself speaks volumes about the scope of Ruby on Rails.
Command Line Interface (CLI)
The Rails provide programmers with various command lines such as rails new, rails generate, and rails scaffold. These command lines help you to create many types of CLI applications such as:
File Analysis: Ruby has an amazing capability of analyzing various aspects of a file. It can analyze the type of a file i.e. whether a file is a text file, image file, etc. Furthermore, it can also provide more information about a file. For instance, if there is a text file then it can find the total number of words used? What words are the most used in that file? And the most popular words inside the document etc.
Developer Tools: RoR developer tools can be very handy for various projects. These developer tools are meant to fulfill the needs of your project. Some famous developer tools of RoR are NetBeans, Atom, Komodo IDE, Aptana Studio, and others.
Did you ever wonder what you could build using RoR if you learned it? Let’s learn what Ruby on Rails is good for. I will be discussing the following two topics in this guide:
- The scope of Ruby on Rails in the development of applications
- Why learn Ruby on Rails when there are other frameworks available as well?
You will get to know why it’s better for your project, why learn it, and what does a Ruby on Rails developer do?
Shall we begin?
Scope of Ruby on Rails: Apps you can develop using RoR
In simple words, you can develop all types of web applications either they intend to run on the internet or local network/LAN. There are tons of network-based applications that can be developed on RoR such as web server applications, API only applications and full-stack applications. Some famous network-based applications developed on RoR are Twitch, Airbnb, and Bloomberg.
API only application
Ruby on Rails is an excellent framework for developing API only applications to connect with mobile apps (Android/iPhone) to handle server-side logic. The plethora of tools makes it a pretty easy task for the developers to establish API only applications in no time. This expedite development feature adds more to the scope of Ruby on Rails.
Web Scraping
Once you have collected a large volume of data from authoritative sources, next on the cards is to utilize this data to develop an application – that’s when RoR takes the charge. Not to forget, Rails efficiently operates to perform web-scraping, which is a tried-and-tested way of gathering well-versed data.
Using Web-scraping all the data is extracted from a website by accessing HTML code and database. This extracted data is then converted into Ruby Objects. When the extracted data is converted into Ruby Objects then you can use this data freely as per your requirement.
Imagine what you could build if you learned Ruby on Rails
There is no denying that the scope of Ruby on Rails is very vast but it is a genuine question that why one must use this platform when there are several other platforms available too? Other platforms can indeed be used to develop appealing applications but there are certain advantages of RoR that give it an edge over other platforms.
- Ruby on Rails is comparatively easier when it’s a face-off with the likes of Python. It’s actually the syntax of Ruby, which is very simple and does not involve intricacies like the coding of other languages.
- RoR has a very large and active community. The member of the community of RoR is called Rubyist. You get stuck somewhere on your way to learning Ruby Programming – the RoR Community is there to get you over the line.
MVP Development using Ruby on Rails (RoR)
Establishing an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the startup is always challenging as it needs efficient development in the minimum possible time. RoR with its ease of use not only speeds up the MVP development process but also saves you a few bucks in the development phase. Ruby on Rails holds a huge community and promises to enhance productivity and that is what makes it an ideal option to develop MVP.
Ruby on Rails vs Python – In the field of Web Development
To have a better understanding of the scope of Ruby on Rails, it is worthwhile to compare it with its main rival Python. Let us compare these two platforms according to various parameters.
| Parameter | Ruby on Rails | Python |
| Websites | 204,845 | 68,867 |
| Top 10K websites | 2.55% | 0.64% |
| Top 100K websites | 1.869% | 0.775% |
| Top 1M websites | 1.041% | 0.503% |
| The entire web | 0.293% | 0.099% |
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails is one of the trendiest frameworks as it’s a feasible option to develop custom software solutions. At the same time, RoR also provides the structure for the coding purpose which makes even most technical projects look easiest in the first place. Consequently, it enhances the scope of Ruby on Rails amid competition from other frameworks. If you are someone who needs more clarity about RoR Development and services, connecting with the RoR expert team should be your first choice.
