Under the Hood of the App: Writing Backends in Ruby

When we get an app development project, we face a diverse choice of backend technologies. To ensure the language doesn’t become an endless source of dispute, we make the final decision based on the needs of the product.

Here at Magora, we can use different programming languages: Ruby, Python, PHP, Swift, etc. Today we’ll tell you about developing backend on Ruby: the pros and cons for the product, the team and each individual programmer.

Ruby in Mobile Development

Ruby in Mobile Development

As any programmer will tell you, there are plenty of opportunities to implement the same task in an infinite number of ways. The choice of implementation method and the right tools are a key aspect of a programmer's creativity.

Ruby, like a mobile backend language, has several important advantages:

• High quality;
• High speed;
• Clear logic.

Quality of Solutions

Ruby programmers have the most opportunities to make use of open source solutions. The community of Ruby developers is one of the largest in comparison to those of other programming languages. Github trending regularly includes Ruby in the top 10 most popular languages.

What does this mean in terms of business?

Such a large community creates a huge number of free and open source solutions that every Ruby developer can use. You don’t have to pay for the licence and come up with a solution every time: the programmer can add such functions as authorisation (including user management, confirmation messages, etc.) in little time, absolutely free and fully open, and be sure of the quality of the added functionality.

How can you be sure of the quality?

Developers, or contributors, not only write code, but also publish feedback on the project. Thus, they improve the ready-made solution, which can be used for free. For example, one of the most popular open source solutions is to add authorisation to the site. The devise project has about 500 people who wrote the code, and about 3700 messages with feedback at the time of writing. Of these, 3,600 are fixed and closed. This means that 3600 improvements were added to the authorisation functionality and possible errors were fixed. In the end, using devise, you can add authorisation to the project within half an hour. Fast and free.

High Speed Development

High development speed is achieved via the great choice of ready-made solutions discussed above. They exist for almost every possible task.

How to manage tasks for which there is no ready-made solution

In this case, the programmer creates the program themselves, adding modern libraries and functions. With a single line of code on Ruby a programmer can create a large and easily-extendable solution. For comparison, in Java, the same task will take about 10 lines. The less code, the faster the result. If you’re working with the team on an hourly basis, then the less code, the less time you have to pay for. As for the quality, it’s highly competitive with similar solutions in other languages and platforms.

Thanks to this dynamism, the programmer can quickly optimise and add the functionality in case of changing requirements.

When is it essential?

If the task is to create a heavy-loaded, complicated yet stable software system, we’ll create it from scratch, implementing all the code ourselves. But if you want to release an MVP - the minimum viable version of the product - and to do it in a very short time, to get ahead of competitors and test your business idea on the market - the backend will be created in a few days so you can quickly release the product and assess the reaction of users and investors.

Ruby for Your Project

The entry threshold for Ruby programming is high - each of Magora’s programmers usually has several programming languages on hand so as to implement the best one for a particular task.

So if you’re looking for a quick and reliable solution for your app development project, let us help you decide whether Ruby is the best suit for your case. We can also implement the code review for your project so that you can be sure of the safety and invulnerability of your software solution, even if it was not developed at our agency. Get in touch with a Magora consultant today to get ahead of your competitors in the digital world.

Alexander Bessudnov

Chief Product Officer

With a passion for innovation and a keen understanding of market trends, Alexander plays a pivotal role in shaping Magora's product development strategy and ensuring the delivery of cutting-edge solutions to clients.