Debating web development toolsets

[Kareem Shehata]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org [mailto:owner-tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Myles
> Braithwaite
> Sent: Monday 07 January 2008 22:27
> To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Debating web development toolsets
> 
> >> I believed in the marketing hype and it made me stupid. When ever I
> >> had to leave the
> >> RoR environment it took a day to get back up to speed.
> >
> > Is that good stupid or bad stupid?  Seriously, I've hit the same
> > thing going
> > from microcontroller code to C++ or Java a few times and back, and the
> > difference in mindset felt like shifting half a dozen gears.  If it
> > simply
> > makes life easier, then I'm all for it.
> 
> Bad stupid. If you want to learn about web development stay far away
> from RoR.

Much as I like to learn, I'm most interested in seeing the sites run.  Point
taken though, RoR sounds like it might just be too easy.

> Python is more mature language so it might have more support for
> databases.
> 
> For a database-driven site I would suggest steering away from RoR and
> move
> towards Python. How skilled are you in SQL? If you have been doing it
> for years
> then you might want to move fully away from RoR. If you don't know
> allot of SQL
> and it is your biggest handicap (like me) I would suggest a Web
> Framework
> like RoR, Django, TurboGears, etc.

I've done a fair bit of SQL and I'm pretty good at it, but that doesn't mean
I want to write more of it.  My last project involved Oracle, and that
showed me what a DBA really does, and just how badly I don't want to go
there as a career!

A good stored procedure can greatly improve efficiency, but writing SQL
queries for everything really sucks (as is required un Oracle world
*shudder*).

Is it possible to start with a framework and extend past it?  I'm thinking
that perhaps starting with RoR and then adding reporting and features that
go beyond the framework might be an idea.  I heard at a talk a year or two
ago that the best forms of abstraction cover 90% of the common cases, but
allow exceptions to be coded just as easily.  I believe the talk focused on
code generation.  Is that applicable here?

Thanks again for all of the input!

-kms


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