A recurring comment I see concerning Rails is that it allows small groups of people to do amazing things in insanely short periods of time.

This might be true. With or without Rails, I contend that small groups of smart people have been producing applications in relatively short periods of time. I’ve read about, met, and been involved in small groups of smart people and seen them produce amazing things in short times. I think that the choice of language or framework has less to do with the quality and quantity of work than the collective juices that make up the team.

It’s the people, stupid.

Rails seems to attract lots of people that are capable of this, even without Rails. The thing that sets Rails apart of it’s “competitors” is that even slow, stupid people can match the velocity enjoyed by their speedy peers. This is very powerful, in the face of 800-lb gorillas like Java.

I’m not insinuating that the Rails folks are stupid, as they obviously are not. I don’t even think the snails have found Rails yet, for the most part. I just think that the people are the value, not the framework.

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Posted at : June 30th, 2005 - 9:55 am
Filed under : General, Languages, Ruby
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