Rails 4 in Action

Appendix B. Why Rails?

Two common questions from newcomers to the Ruby on Rails community are “Why Ruby?” and “Why Rails?” This appendix answers these questions with several key points about why people should be using Ruby on Rails over other frameworks, covering such things as the culture and community standards.

Ruby is an exceptionally powerful language that can be used for anything from short scripts to full-featured web applications, such as those built with Ruby on Rails. Its clean syntax and focus on making programmers happy are two of the many advantages that have generated a large community of users. There are hobbyists who use it just for the sake of it, and hardcore programmers who swear by it.

Ruby and—by extension—Rails should ...