From: Luciano Ramalho <ramalho@...>
Date: 2006-11-25T01:14:06+09:00
Subject: Re: Question

On 11/24/06, Abra Cadabra <freebusinessonline@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Could someone explain the MVC architecture in simple terms?

Someone has:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model-view-controller

> To use the rails framework, does one need to have knowledge of the ruby
> programming language?

Yes.

> Does it support javascript?

Yes. It includes the script.aculo.us JS library and facilitates the
construction of AJAX apps.

> If one is to compare this with coldfusion, which is the better choice
> for creating database driven websites and why? Which one is better?

"Better" is always relative. Cold Fusion is based on the premise that
you should embed application logic in the HTML. This is considered bad
today, and the whole point of MVC is to avoid mixing business logic
and presentation, to improve maintainability and flexibility. To me,
comparing Cold Fusion to Rails is like comparing an ox-drawn carriage
to a Ferrari, but I admit this is subjective (comparisons always are).

Also, Cold Fusion is proprietary software, which for me is a fatal
flaw for a software plaform. I don't mind wasting time and money with
proprietary games, but building your business on proprietary languages
and frameworks is too risky. Nobody knows whether Cold Fusion will be
actively maintained 2 or 3 years from now. The once mission-critical
Windows NT server OS is no longer maintained, and none of it's users
can do anything about it because it was a proprietary product. Now
it's a non-product, unsupported but still in production in many places
that could not migrate fast enough to keep up with the business goals
of Microsoft.

Cheers,

Luciano