I agree that Perl's CPAN is probably the most awesome thing invented since slice bread. If you want to hack together something really quick, like PHP, Perl is awesome.
But the beauty of Ruby on Rails is abstraction. It takes a while getting used to the code and the framework, but that time invested is paid off in productivity. Ruby on Rails is really on a whole new playing field. Complete object orientation, a fully developed framework to deploy and TEST with a single command in the terminal, MVC, it is just ... heavnly. To be honest, any language can build the Rails framework. Ruby isn't necessarily too unique in that sense. What does make it unique is having an evangelical preacher for its framework, David "oh so sexy" Hansson, and a kind and awesome community.
You should give it another shot, if you're a web developer, it'll make your life a million times easier.
But the beauty of Ruby on Rails is abstraction. <list of features>
Every language has this stuff. Nobody writes CGI.pm-style web apps anymore; that died in the early 2000s.
You should give it another shot, if you're a web developer, it'll make your life a million times easier.
This is incorrect. Ruby has a major problem right now; module authors have no respect for each other... they will happily modify core functions (and other classes) when you load them. This is not fun to debug. Ruby is still very new, and it's still getting over the mistakes all languages go through. Back in the day, people did this with Perl, but eventually the community learned that monkey patching (etc.) was unacceptable, and most modules don't do it anymore. Eventually Ruby will be as mature as Perl... but why wait... Ruby and Perl have an interchangeable featureset.
Ruby has a major problem right now; module authors have no respect for each other... they will happily modify core functions (and other classes) when you load them.
Just to give the other side, while metaprogramming can be dangerous, in 3+ years I've rarely had unexpected behavior because of rogue monkeypatching. Not to say that it can't happen, but that in reality, it isn't a major problem.
I think alot of major frameworks written in other languages have all if not most of the features Rails has. Django, Pylons, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Catalyst, and Mason are to name a few.
Rails to make your life easier? well that's true if your creating web apps that fit into RoR's philosophy. To quote a member of HN "Coloring outside the lines is not allowed".
I do agree with you on one thing though, I believe the massive boost in Ruby's popularity is the great marketing campaign behind it.
In a manner of speaking yes, just take a look at the massive spike in mindshare Rails has garnered since it's release. Let's take into consideration the passive influence it also has on framework developers as well.
Nearly every mainstream framework we know has at least been influence by RoR.
True, but that's not because people can't get the annoying ideas out of their head, it's because of the legitimate innovation that Rails brought into the mainstream.
But the beauty of Ruby on Rails is abstraction. It takes a while getting used to the code and the framework, but that time invested is paid off in productivity. Ruby on Rails is really on a whole new playing field. Complete object orientation, a fully developed framework to deploy and TEST with a single command in the terminal, MVC, it is just ... heavnly. To be honest, any language can build the Rails framework. Ruby isn't necessarily too unique in that sense. What does make it unique is having an evangelical preacher for its framework, David "oh so sexy" Hansson, and a kind and awesome community.
You should give it another shot, if you're a web developer, it'll make your life a million times easier.