when are web frameworks needed?

[goodieboy]

Hi,

With the recent birth of Phusion Passenger (and Rack), I'm wondering
if all of the Ruby web frameworks are as important as they used to be?
I mean, you can now create a simple web app using ruby, AND easily
deploy it, without a framework! I've been waiting forever to do this.

My question is, what app requirements make it so that using a
framework such as Rails/Merb is a good choice?

What kind of app would do better as a standalone Rack/Passenger?
(still using great gems like DataMapper, Hpricot etc. of course)

As an example, I have a simple ecommerce site I need to develop. I'm
thinking of using Passenger, DataMapper, ActiveMerchant and Erb. Would
it be so terrible to whip up my own lightweight router and controller
scheme for something like this? I can't imagine the code to support
the app would be more than a few hundred lines?

Matt

 

[Martin DeMello]

As an example, I have a simple ecommerce site I need to develop. I'm
thinking of using Passenger, DataMapper, ActiveMerchant and Erb. Would
it be so terrible to whip up my own lightweight router and controller
scheme for something like this? I can't imagine the code to support
the app would be more than a few hundred lines?

Mostly that it's a well-understood, rather routine problem that you're
solving again and again for little benefit. Why not just drop in
Sinatra or one of the other lightweight frameworks and take advantage
of the accumulated design and debugging effort.

martin

 

[Eleanor McHugh]

Mostly that it's a well-understood, rather routine problem that you're
solving again and again for little benefit. Why not just drop in
Sinatra or one of the other lightweight frameworks and take advantage
of the accumulated design and debugging effort.

Just because other people have already solved a problem doesn't mean
it's not worth solving again in a different matter. I spent a very
enjoyable month in 2006 writing a small web framework, and whilst I
could have used Rails or Camping to do the same job it would probably
have taken me as long to bend them to my will


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://slides.games-with-brains.net

 

[Martin DeMello]

Just because other people have already solved a problem doesn't mean it's
not worth solving again in a different matter. I spent a very enjoyable
month in 2006 writing a small web framework, and whilst I could have used
Rails or Camping to do the same job it would probably have taken me as long
to bend them to my will

Yeah, if your problem is to write a web framework and you have a new
idea about it, that's one thing, but if you're just trying to get a
webapp up I daresay you're solving the same plumbing problems that the
existing frameworks have solved already.

martin