WK6:Enjoying the Ride

Are we certain that Ruby on Rails is the right platform for Web development?

Ruby on Rails (ROR) is a good choice for the development of OTBS in terms of the cost, flexibility and scalability. ROR is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language. In the market, ROR is getting more popular and is welcomed by developers. We can find many plugins and programs on the Internet. Apart from that, the Agile development methodology can enable us to build the scaffolding of OTBS and put it on production within a short time. Later, we can enhance it or add a new module subject to the business needs.

.Net and Java are the most common programming frameworks in the market. Both can be considered to develop OTBS.

Microsoft .NET’s Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Java’s Java Virtual Machine (JVM) are the most popular web application development frameworks. Without installing either one on your computer, many web applications will be able to run on your computer.

The .NET framework's Common Language Runtime (CLR) is much similar to Java Virtual Machine (JVM), in terms of garbage collection, security, just in time compilation (JIT).

Java platform views the Internet world as one language running on different operating systems (OS), whereas .NET framework views the world running on one OS with a programmers having choice of multiple languages. Therefore Java platform interpolates multiple operating systems, and .NET framework interpolates multiple languages. Therefore, SUN Java does not focus on the GUI development as we know the server side programming does not really need GUI. On the contrary, Microsoft dominates the client side desktop market.

So far Microsoft has issued three development tools including C#, VB.NET and C++, including for developments plus five execution containers hosting this runtime, namely: ASP.NET, Windows Shell, VBA scripting host for Office suite, Visual Forms container and IE (Internet Explorer). Much like Java it contains a rich set of API and lib.

Besides, Microsoft has done an excellent job to standardise .Net framework CLI/CLR in European Computer Manufacturing Association (ECMA) and standardise Simple Oject Access protocol (SOAP) through W3C. These will help to take hold the web application development market.

Reference

Banerjee A 2001, .NET framework comparison with Java Architecture, Mindcracker Network, viewed 26 April 2009, <http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/abanerjee/DotNetforJava11292005023419AM/DotNetforJava.aspx>.