Ruby On Rails vs Django – What’s The Difference. Today modern web apps include wide functionalities, which can make you overwhelmed. It is very time consuming and frustrating to know which solution is the best for your organization.
Fortunately, there are some tools available that can make web application development a lot easier by providing a profound basis for developing an app. One of such tools we are going to talk about in this blog is the web application frameworks: Ruby on Rails and Django that will help you to create web apps according to the latest web standards.
What is Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, an open source framework and efficient in developing server side web applications. This framework is relatively popular among startups since it helps in developing prototypes and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) rapidly.
The framework operates in a Model View Controller (MVC) environment, which has one of the best design principles. It can separate business logic from the databases, queries and UI UX code effortlessly.
After its introduction in 2005, the entire web developing world was introduced to its new and unique features. Its Convention Over Configuration (CoC) ideology helps in creating web applications in a completely eccentric way.
When you implement CoC software along with Ruby on Rails server, your coding time reduces considerably. It even eliminates the need for writing long code.
Time Efficiency: You can learn the basics of this framework quite effortlessly. However, it might take some time to understand its true potential. You will be able to develop web applications faster and more effortlessly. That leads to having more time develop your business.
Improves Development Speed: Ruby on Rails manages multiple open source libraries named Gems, which enhances and extends the existing functionalities of web applications that solve common issues. Moreover, it also provides you with Active Support in the form of library extension, utility classes and other transversal items. Because of its improved development speed, startups are fond of this framework. It shortens the development process and creates an exceptional product at a minimal cost.
Security: Today cybersecurity has been a primary issue for a lot of businesses. However, with the help of Ruby on Rails’ in built functionalities, you can resist your web page or applications to common vulnerabilities. It protects your web product from Cross Site Scripting, SQL Injection, Cross Site Request Forgery and Insecure Direct Object Reference or Forceful Browsing.
Provides Numerous Helpful Tools And Libraries: Ruby on Rails constitutes beneficial community created “Gems” and libraries used as a part of your own software. They not only influence the content of your code but also software design experience altogether. They help in debugging, optimizing and testing stages of your work.
Have Sturdy Industry Standards: Ruby on Rails is an opinionated framework that promotes quality standards and best practices on web development. Since it contains DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) and CoC (Convention over Configuration), you can build your application in a better, cleaner and more manageable way.
Furthermore, it is also based on the MVC model, which enhances the extensibility of your web application. This way, you can ensure to extend its usability with new features even after you have created a complex application.
Other features with Ruby on Rails:
Tooling.
Code quality.
Test Automation.
Compatible with other Front end frameworks (Vue, Angular.js or React).
Less Flexible: While developing an application with exceptional functionalities, customization becomes a challenge. It is because migrating databases, configuring routing, etc. mitigates the process of product development.
Slow Runtime Speed And Performance: Ruby on Rails’ slow runtime speed and performance makes this framework relatively less adaptable. The performance issues are because of its attribution towards the database and server environment.
Boot Speed: sometimes takes long time to start.
Documentation: it be hard to find good documentation
Price Of A Mistake: The price of a Mistake while developing this framework is connected with its performance time. During the development process, if you pay attention to every detail and are thorough, it can be beneficial for you.
However, if you make some wrong judgment, your whole application will slow down causing connectivity problems between different parts of your software, thereby leading to unintended consequences.
Next part of our article about Ruby On Rails vs Django – What’s The Difference? is to introduce Django.
Django is a full stack web framework that you can use to develop robust, large scale web apps and websites. It uses the object oriented model and is usually called “The Framework For Perfectionists.”
This open source, free framework is used for general purposes that can be accessed effortlessly. Django is based on the Python and extends all the philosophies of Python to deliver a pragmatic, simple and portable platform to you.
Django server is popular among developers because of its rich features. The sole purpose of this framework is to simplify the process of building complex and user driven websites. Like Ruby on Rails, it is also unique, pragmatic and motivates you to develop web apps rapidly.
Implemented In Python:Python is one of the most popular and easy to read programming languages and is always used in the implementation of scientific computation and high level Artificial Intelligence. Django is a Python implemented framework so considered efficient for backend web development.
Flexible: Dynamic tool for web developers. It allows them to configure the framework as per their needs. It also provides incredible support for external libraries and packages, thereby making the import free from any kind of security concerns.
Provide Better CNDConnectivity: Django controls CNDs and because of this feature, you can effortlessly deliver prodigious content on every social media platform.
Fast: Django provides rapid development hence startups, and other enterprises get considerable time to market their product. In this framework, web development provides optimization for web development. It even allows you to use several components at once, thereby enabling rapid development.
Scalable: A great feature for Django as the websites made with Django can handle multiple users at a single time.
REST framework for APIs. The Django REST framework easier the tasks by building APIs for web applications.
No Conventions: A lot of web developers do not like Django due to its lack of conventions. It does not have any set of principles that can be followed for web development. Because of this, the entire thing becomes arduous for those who have worked on frameworks with Convention over Configuration.
Not good for Small Projects: Django is better for building large applications.
No Multiprocessor Support: Django is not great for processing multiple requests at the same time.
Monolithic: The framework is monolithic as it has countless dependencies that make it difficult to use. Programmers consider it a single package, which is not a good thing.
URL issues: Specifying URLs can sometimes be a tricky task
So what is the comparison of Ruby On Rails vs Django – What’s The Difference?
Ruby on Rails and Django are the two server side frameworks that are generally used for the backend development of web apps. Apart from several similarities like extensive database support, security features, etc., they share key differences as well. Some of the differences between these two frameworks are as follows:
Language
Ruby on Rails, as the name suggests, uses Ruby programming language, whereas Django is based on Python language. Although both the languages are object oriented, interpreted and dynamically typed programming languages, they are efficient for different purposes.
For example, Python is a general purpose language, which you can use for developing games, Data Analytics, Weka Machine Learning algorithms and Artificial Intelligence features. It is the most readable programming language easy to learn. It is popular for its simplicity, portability, readability and versatility.
On the contrary, Ruby is efficient in developing web and even provides web services like APIs and web servers. It is widely known for rapid development, high productivity and flexibility for web developers.
Usage
Ruby on Rails has a vibrant community. However, it is not as massive and varied as Django. It is also limited to the development of web applications. Django is a universal choice and a well known option for multiple fields like eCommerce, social media platforms, government and NGO websites, as well as desktop applications.
Stability
Ruby on Rails is perfectly balanced between flexibility and stability. You can reuse the code to eliminate dependencies and implement new, innovative features simultaneously. As discussed earlier, it even uses the Convention over Configuration (CoC) model that frees you from any further efforts. The base it provides reduces your workload on Rails, thereby also keeping it customizable and manipulated.
Django, on the other hand, is opinionated. It has a way of performing tasks and takes a lot of time when you try something new. It also goes out of the way to prevent new implementations, thereby seriously affecting the creativity and flexibility of web developers.
Speed and Performance
Speed has always been an issue with both frameworks. However, comparing both of them, Ruby is way faster than Django. It is because Rails has the benefit of a rich repository of outstanding libraries and plugins that boosts its speed and performance.
Contradictorily, Django is based on Python, which is a comparatively programming language. Its interpreted, dynamic, typing nature makes the development process in Django slow. Additionally, its sturdy tools and libraries affect the speed and performance of the framework further.
Architecture
The architectural pattern of Ruby on Rails and Django is similar. Ruby on Rails uses Model View Controller architecture (MVC) whereas Django follows the Model View Template (MVT) design pattern.
Both the patterns are homogeneous in implementation. However, you might have to code all the control specific functions for Controller in Ruby on Rails. Talking about Django, it takes care of the Controller automatically.
Popularity
In terms of popularity, both frameworks are popular and have a separate identity in the industry. However, the active community of Rails helps you in continuously developing customized solutions in the form of Ruby Gem.
Ruby On Rails vs Django – What’s The Difference Conclusion
Although both frameworks are used for backend frameworks and both are appropriate for web projects. While Ruby on Rails is a precise framework for early stage startups or organizations, Django is better for large enterprises. It is because Django has the ability to handle multiple databases in a more standardized way.
Ruby on Rails is an awesome web framework to use, from simple to complex software projects. It has all the best elements that can do the job just as or even better than other frameworks.
If you are delivering a new application for the web it is good to develop it in Ruby, Python, NodeJS or GoLang. It is up to you to choose the appropriate framework according to your needs and preferences.
I am a fan of open source technology and have more than 10 years of experience working with Linux and Open Source technologies. I am one of the Linux technical writers for Cloud Infrastructure Services.