Basic Difference between Ruby and Ruby on Rails

Each enterprise looks for the right programming language and framework to reduce the overall development time and effort. It must pick a programming language that allows the developers to express their concepts without writing longer lines of cold. Likewise, it also needs choose the right development framework to enable developers to reuse and structure their code. Many developers rely on Ruby and Ruby on Rails (ROR) to create rich internet applications within a stipulated period of time. As a general purpose programming language Ruby is designed to make the programmers more productivity. On the other hand, ROR is an open source web application development framework written in Ruby. So the beginners must understand the key differences between Ruby and ROR.

Major Differences between Ruby and Ruby on Rails

Programming Language
As noted earlier, Ruby is a general purpose programming language that was developed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto in the mid-1990s. Along with being general-purpose, the programming language is object-oriented, dynamic and reflective. It also comes with automatic memory management and dynamic type system. The latest version of Ruby was released in December 2013. Along with using semantic versioning, Ruby 2.1.0 also includes library updates, speed-ups and bug fixes.

Web Application Development Framework
Unlike Ruby, ROR is not a programming language. It is an open source web application development framework written in Ruby. Despite being open source, ROR is being updated at frequent intervals. Each new version of ROR comes with new features and enhanced capabilities to complement the latest trends in web application development. The latest version of ROR was released in April, 2014. The Rails 4.1 introduces a number of new concepts including variants, spring, enums, mailer previews and secerts.yml.

Support for Programming Paradigms
As a programming language, Ruby was developed to make programmers more productive. It can be used both for scripting and non-scripting purposes. Along with being a dynamic and general-purpose programming language, Ruby also supports several widely used programming paradigms like object-oriented, imperative and functional. It also comes with automatic memory management and dynamic type system. As ROR is written in Ruby, the web application developers can avail the benefits of these common programming paradigms supported by it.

Support for Software Engineering Patterns
ROR is a full-stack web development framework that can be used for developing a wide range of internet applications. It also supports many software engineering paradigms including model–view–controller (MVC); don't repeat yourself (DRY); convention over configuration (CoC); and the active record pattern. As ROR supports these common software engineering architects, it becomes easier for programmers to create large and complex internet application within a shorter span of time. Along with allowing them to avoid writing lengthy code, the framework further helps them in reusing and organizing the code.

Deployment
ROR is built on the Ruby scripting language. So it makes it easier for programmers to optimize the use of Ruby. However, the web application development framework cannot be deployed independently. ROR is often installed using a package manager called RubyGems. The package manager is included in the most recent versions of Ruby. However, ROR can also be installed by using several free Unix-like systems. ROR is also deployed with a database server and a web server. Also, the web developers need basic understanding of Ruby to use ROR effectively for creating large and complex internet applications.

A number of reports have highlighted that the huge popularity of Ruby as a programming language can be credited to ROR. Despite being written in Ruby, ROR is divided into a number of packages. It further complements the latest web development trends by using JavaScript libraries and RESTful web services extensively.

You can hire developers from top ROR development companies in India who can help you build Ruby applications within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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