I'd look at Play framework V2 + Scala http://www.playframework.org/ http://www.playframework.org/ and Vert.x http://vertxproject.wordpress.com/ http://vertxproj

I'd look at Play framework V2 + Scala http://www.playframework.org/ http://www.playframework.org/ and Vert.x http://vertxproject.wordpress.com/ http://vertxproject.wordpress.com/ (Scala support coming soon). Since you already know Ruby you may consider using JRuby or Groovy with Vert.x as other options. Scala and Java are more efficient though. A good list of books for learning Play and Scala: http://capecoder.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/scala-books-being-published-at-quite-a-rate/ http://capecoder.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/scala-books-being-... IntelliJ + Scala plugin is widely regarded as the best IDE for Scala work: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/free_java_ide.html http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/free_java_ide.html