Learn from Ruby, Code with Java

By jumping from Java to Ruby and Ruby on Rails, are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

In this discussion, we'll discuss the benefits of Ruby and Ruby on Rails and the drawbacks of the way we currently build Java applications. Then we'll show you exactly how the situation can be corrected, and possibly even reversed. Can the Java platform achieve what Rails does? I'm going to risk saying: “Absolutely the most important parts can.”

There's a lot of buzz in the air, and very little has anything to do with Java. Java's old and boring, right? So what are people talking about, .NET? No, luckily Java's #1 commercial competitor is also old and boring (already). The new topic of the day is dynamic languages, and sitting in the speakers chair is Ruby, the hot new (12 year old) scripting language, and the Rails web framework. Together they achieve huge productivity gains, clean, readable code, simple solutions, easy deployment and portability!

Wait a minute. Isn't that what Java claims too? Or did claim years ago? So what has happened to our beloved language? Here's what: We got stupid. Is Ruby better? No. Is any language better than any other? Perhaps in some cases, like pretty much every language is better than Visual Basic, including BASIC. ;-) But aside from that, many of the benefits of Ruby have nothing to do with the language, just like a lot of the overhead we experience in Java-Land have nothing to do with Java. So what's the problem? We've forgotten how to write good software. Instead, we choose to blindly follow “best practices” and “patterns” and by stuffing what used to be good code into reams of XML and annotations.

About Clinton Begin

Clinton Begin is a Senior Developer and Agile Mentor for ThoughtWorks Canada. He has been building enterprise applications for 8 years based on platforms such as Java and .NET. Clinton has extensive experience with agile methodologies, persistence frameworks and relational databases. He is the original creator of the iBATIS persistence framework, which he designed in response to the challenges faced by object oriented developers dealing with enterprise relational databases. Clinton is an experienced speaker, having delivered formal presentations, training seminars and bootcamps from San Francisco to New York City.

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