From: Phlip <phlipcpp@...>
Date: 2006-09-10T12:20:09+09:00
Subject: Another reason Rails doesn't suck

Rubies:

I got to the deceased equine flagellation party late, so I will find a 
different angle.

Read:

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ConfigurationHell

That page lampoons a very well-regarded and highly successful servlet engine 
called Tomcat. (Written in a language whose name begins with J.)

Installing and configuring Tomcat is a total pain in the sphincter. The 
system depends on endless configuration files, in various languages, with 
invisible connections between them, and no "trail of breadcrumbs" to lead 
you through everything. If you get one line item wrong, the system will 
might provide a log file, and might provide a cryptic error message. This 
might lead you to the wrong module and config file, looking in the wrong 
place to supply a fix. If you then screw that file up, you can't tell if the 
new error message is progress or a regression.

Now compare Tomcat to our least un-favorite servlet system. Rails prefers 
"convention over configuration". That seems like a new nuisance; for 
example, some database table names must be plural (or something like that).

It's not a nuisance. The comparison to Tomcat illustrates just how powerful 
this weak but flexible concept can get!

-- 
  Phlip
  http://www.greencheese.us/ZeekLand <-- NOT a blog!!!