From: Tobin Harris Date: 2005-06-25T09:25:38+09:00 Subject: Re: ASP.NET vs Ruby on Rails I've used both for commercial projects, although I'm not an guru in either. In ASP.NET, I've been using NHibernate for data access, and Wilsons Master Pages for page templating. Both these tools are fantastic - and provide a *lot* of power. ASP.NET is a dream in that you can do everything you want to do - sky == limit. On the flip-side, getting things done in .NET isn't always so easy, I think it lacks the high level of abstraction that Rails has. If it's abstraction you want, you can always invest in one of the RAD tools for .NET such as Deklarit, IronSpeed etc, which will make some of these decisions for you. Otherwise you can spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how to carry out a particular task. You have to dig into the framework class libriaries quite heavily, learn how it's classes collaborate to get the job done, and select the best method for your situation. For example, in .NET there are various ways of getting at your data, also there's many ways to send an email, to create a custom GUI control, to handle authentication etc... Then, if you want ORM, there's a *lot* of tools to pick from - NHibernate, Gentle.NET, ORM.NET, EntityBroker, LLBLGen and many many more.. quite an overwhelming collection. Ruby on Rails is fantastic. It seems to be focused on making web application development a breeze. I think one of the main reasons I like Rails is that the framework makes a lot of decisions for me. I'm a *very* enthusiastic developer who likes to play with ideas and tools, but this doesn't always help when it comes to getting the job done. Rails is quite convention based and provides a default way of doing most things, so it narrows down the decision making process - which personally is a good thing. If you have the luxury then I'd try both. Rails will probably get you started quicker, and your solutions may entail less lines of code. ASP.NET is a fantastic framework, but there's a lot of ground to cover to get up and running. Hope this helps. Tobes "Stephen Kellett" wrote in message news:jCeUDxMLUFvCFweB@objmedia.demon.co.uk... > HI Folks, > > Anyone here done both ASP.NET and Rails? Care to compare and contrast? I'm > not interested in MS bashing, just the pros and cons of both environments. > > The reason I ask is that I've just read on joelonsoftware that he thinks > ASP.NET is excellent and is the best solution for server based work > presented on a website. I wonder if anyone thinks thats a valid statement > or not and can provide arguments for/against that point of view. > > If ASP.NET does offer superior things to Rails, what can be done to Rails > and/or Ruby to change things? > > Stephen > -- > Stephen Kellett > Object Media Limited http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html > Computer Consultancy, Software Development > Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting