Comments for Ruby on Rails to Nowhere at http://www.phurnace.com , comment 1 to 4 out of 4 comments http://www.phurnace.com Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:04:44 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.phurnace.com/our-two-cents/ruby-on-rails-to-nowhere.html#comment-9 For a truly scaling solution in this arena, consider Seaside (http://seaside.st), which when running on GemStone/S, can scale far beyond what Twitter would have needed. Or even running on Cincom VW, with commercially supported GLORP and ActiveRecord talking to SQL-based databases. - Randal L. Schwartz Wed, 14 May 2008 15:19:28 +0100 http://www.phurnace.com/our-two-cents/ruby-on-rails-to-nowhere.html#comment-8 Since I was working on 2-tier/N-tier applications back when you were probably still learning how to spell, allow me to explain. Tiers, in the context of 2-tier/N-tier, refer to disparate computers participating in the user's application experience. Tiers refer to where application code executes; things like routers and load-balancers don't count, but databases (containing application-specific tables, stored procedures, etc.) do. And, a single tier can contain multiple PCs, if they're all serving the same purpose (e.g., all clients are on one tier; a load-balanced set of database servers is one tier). Hence, a 1-tier application is something that runs completely on one PC. The basic version of Quicken, for example, has its data file on the PC and has its user interface on the same PC. A 2-tier application has a split, typically between where the user interface runs and where the rest of the application logic runs. The old "client-server" model is 2-tier, where you have a fat client talking straight to a database, such as QuickBooks Enterprise. A Web application can be 2-tier, if and only if there is no database server, transaction server, or anything beyond the process (or load-balanced set of processes) that is the Web application itself. So, PHP, RoR, and Java can all be 2-tier, if they use embedded databases like SQLite and Apache Derby. The two tiers, therefore, are the client (Web browser/RIA) and Web application. A 3-tier application, nowadays, typically is a client tier (e.g., Web browser/RIA), a Web application tier (PHP, RoR, Java), and a database server tier (MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL). Saying "Ruby on Rails is a two tiered platform; thus, fundamentally flawed" is hogwash. RoR can use three tiers, and a 3-tier model is what the RoR developers have recommended (SQLite relegated to development/test purposes). Similarly, PHP, Java, or any other Web application technology you can name can be used as "a two tiered platform; thus, fundamentally flawed", though frequently they are used with three or more tiers. If you need more tiers, RoR and Java (and maybe PHP) can use reliable messaging frameworks like ActiveMQ to offload processing to other application servers. There is nothing magic about Java or PHP that make them automagically scalable and RoR not. In the wrong hands, any of those technologies can create non-scalable applications. If you're going to create a Twitter-sized application, you better have Twitter-capable engineers, no matter whether you implement in RoR, Java, PHP, or raw machine code. Note that I'm personally not a big fan of RoR, but scalability isn't the concern. - Mark Murphy Wed, 14 May 2008 15:10:18 +0100 http://www.phurnace.com/our-two-cents/ruby-on-rails-to-nowhere.html#comment-7 What makes you believe RoR is any different than PHP with regard to 2-Tier v. n-Tier? And what leads you to believe RoR is 2-Tier? - craig Wed, 14 May 2008 14:41:11 +0100 http://www.phurnace.com/our-two-cents/ruby-on-rails-to-nowhere.html#comment-6 It also appears IBM is pushing support for Rails on Websphere as well. [url]http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0801_shillington/0801_shillington.html[/url] - Matthew Williams Wed, 14 May 2008 12:54:05 +0100