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I've been working on React projects lately and also spent a lot of time gluing together all the different libraries and setting up a proper build process via We

by haukur 10y ago

I've been working on React projects lately and also spent a lot of time gluing together all the different libraries and setting up a proper build process via Webpack. I've also worked on Rails projects in the past, and I have to say that I prefer the modularity of being able to structure my projects according to the problem they're trying to solve. For instance, you wouldn't create a single-page app in Rails. Also, with regards to Webpack, even though it's complex, it's extremely powerful, more so than anything else I've found. It includes many ways to optimize asset bundles considerably, by splitting them up into different files, removing unused code, and of course all the usual stuff like minimizing and gzipping the assets. In comparison to Rails it also compiles way faster, by only recompiling the code that you changed. It also includes many development tools, like an auto-reloading server and even updates your webpage without a refresh (HMR). All these are things that just aren't possible in Rails without much, much more effort. Edit: I guess there's a first for everything, but I'm really confused as to why this was downvoted. If something I said is wrong or debatable, I'd be happy to hear it and discuss it.

matt4077 10y ago
(didn't downvote, but:) > I prefer the modularity of being able to structure my projects according to the problem they're trying to solve. For instance, you wouldn't create a single-page app in Rails. Those two sentences don't follow logically the way they appear. A project's structure has nothing to do with its functionality, which SPA is. I admit that rails is late to the SPA game, but if the new websockets (ActionCable) and API mode do what the docs say (haven't tried), there's no reason why it wouln't work nicely. For a given rails project, less than 5% of non-template code should change: create an API (one line for most projects) and... well, I can't think of anything else. The rails view architecture is also almost identical to React: a bunch of nested templates. React best-practice is a bit more insistent on modularity (small & more generic components), but a 1:1 mapping of React and rails templates is possible.
- haukur 10y ago
  What I meant to say was that I felt Rails was too rigid for some purposes, especially creating single-page applications. It's true that Rails wasn't built with that in mind originally, but it seems that it's becoming a bit easier now (I haven't been following Rails lately and had never heard of the "API mode" you mentioned). I also know about a couple of projects using React successfully within Rails apps, but I would personally not do that if I were to start a new project today, even though I love Ruby.
ocean3 10y ago
There is nothing stopping from creating a single page app in rails. I have a SPA running on rails 3 using backbonejs. Some parts of which now use reactjs.

by haukur 10y ago

matt4077 10y ago

(didn't downvote, but:) > I prefer the modularity of being able to structure my projects according to the problem they're trying to solve. For instance, you wouldn't create a single-page app in Rails. Those two sentences don't follow logically the way they appear. A project's structure has nothing to do with its functionality, which SPA is. I admit that rails is late to the SPA game, but if the new websockets (ActionCable) and API mode do what the docs say (haven't tried), there's no reason why it wouln't work nicely. For a given rails project, less than 5% of non-template code should change: create an API (one line for most projects) and... well, I can't think of anything else. The rails view architecture is also almost identical to React: a bunch of nested templates. React best-practice is a bit more insistent on modularity (small & more generic components), but a 1:1 mapping of React and rails templates is possible.

haukur 10y ago
What I meant to say was that I felt Rails was too rigid for some purposes, especially creating single-page applications. It's true that Rails wasn't built with that in mind originally, but it seems that it's becoming a bit easier now (I haven't been following Rails lately and had never heard of the "API mode" you mentioned). I also know about a couple of projects using React successfully within Rails apps, but I would personally not do that if I were to start a new project today, even though I love Ruby.

ocean3 10y ago

There is nothing stopping from creating a single page app in rails. I have a SPA running on rails 3 using backbonejs. Some parts of which now use reactjs.