Django vs Rails

Difference Between Django vs Rails

Django is a free, open-source, high-performance web framework written in the popular, simple, flexible and comparatively easy-to-learn Python programming language.  It adopts an MVC (Model View Controller) design pattern.  Django seeks to simplify the development of high-end web applications. Ruby on Rails, commonly known by Rails, is also a web framework implemented in Ruby.  Rails offer a perfect blend of features of object-oriented programming and dynamically typed syntax.

Let us study much more about Django and Ruby on Rails in details:

• The Django web framework was originally authored by Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison in 2005, which is being maintained by DSF (Django Software Foundation). Ever since its release, it is used by thousands of programmers, beginners and advanced users alike, owing to its user-friendliness.
• Django lays emphasis on the reusability of code and pluggability of its components, compact coding practices, minimal coupling, and rapid development. It also offers CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) interface for simpler and dynamic maneuverability.
• Ruby on Rails, commonly known by Rails, is also a web framework implemented in Ruby. Rails, authored by David Heinemeier Hansson, was initially released in 2005.
• Like Django, It follows an MVC (Model View Controller) framework which facilitates the use of XML or JSON for data exchange and HTML, CSS and JavaScript for a user interface, consistent with web standard.
• Both, Django vs Ruby on Rails, are widely used for developing web apps and prototypes, because of their standard libraries, persistence support and feature-packed frameworks—Python’s Django framework, and Ruby’s Ruby on Rails.
• These are interpreted scripting languages unlike Java, C++ and other compiled languages. Although, compiled languages tend to run comparatively faster. Ruby on Rails is somewhat more popular as a web development tool than Django-Python.

Head to Head Comparison Between Django and Rails (Infographics)

Below is the top 8 difference between Django and Rails:

Key Differences Between Django and Rails

Let us discuss some of the major Differences Between Django and Ruby on Rails:

• Python is the base language of Django, hence follows all the coding conventions and stick to the standard Pythonic way of programming. On the other hand, Rails inherits its basic traits from Ruby, thus its coding philosophy is in alignment with its parent language.
• The Rails philosophy rests on the two pillars- DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) which states “Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative representation within a system.” By not writing the same information over and over again, a code is more maintainable, more extensible, and less buggy, and CoC (Convention Over Configuration) which emphasizes the best way to do many things in a web application, and defaults to this set of conventions, rather than specify endless configurations. The Django philosophies include- DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) which says every distinct concept and/or piece of data should live in one, and only one, place. Redundancy is bad. Normalization is good. Explicit is better than implicit, listed in PEP 20, it means Django should not do too much “magic.” Magic should not happen unless there is a really good reason for it. And, loose coupling and tight cohesion which states various layers of the framework should not “know” about each other unless absolutely necessary.
• Each, Django vs Rails, implement similar internal design principle in consonance with MVC (Model View Controller). In this architecture, each database table usually maps with their respective classes and controller, a server-side component, renders views upon receiving an HTTP client request.
• ORM (Object Relational Mapping), though similar, varies for Django vs Rails. Rails have a generic ORM enabling the code to work on all supported databases backend. Model definitions are organized through these important files- Model file contains business logic and validation rules, Migration files contain definitions of incremental changes to the database structure, and Schema file contains a reference to the current database structure. Django has an equivalent implementation with certain code-level differences- Model file contains business logic, database structure, and validation rules, Migration files are generated automatically as a model file is updated and contain incremental database changes.
• The client request is routed differently in Django vs Rails. Django mandates each endpoint to be explicitly defined in the code itself. While Rails, by default, routes URLs to controller methods. This behavior can be modified in the configuration file.
• At the front end, a behavior of web pages can be controlled by integrating front-end technologies including JavaScript. Rails have built-in static compilation pipeline which uses CoffeeScript by default. Django serves static files by default while throwing open third-party applications add compilation and compression options.
• The performance of a web framework is one of the primary reasons for its popularity among the business users. On this count, Rails fairs somewhat better in comparison to Django. Though, both Django vs Rails are equally used by the developer community to solve their business use cases. As it is evident, Bitbucket uses Django while Github Rails, both offering comparable overall performances.
• Rapid development and prompt delivery of a working software is a complex issue faced by most of the development projects. Thanks to Rails’ gems (libraries), applications can be developed quickly. To get the gems into action, an experienced team of developers well versed in the nuances of Rails is desired. Rails scores some extra points over Django here.
• Longevity and durability are other considerations while choosing a technology over another. In the age of big data and IoTs, more and more devices are getting connected to the network every day, adding to the data sources. The big data phenomena and its handling requires heavy scientific analysis and also deployment of ML (Machine Learning) algorithms. Python (Django) code will have an advantage over Ruby (Rails) in the foreseeable years ahead.

Comparison between Django and Rails

Below is the topmost comparison between Django and Rails.

 Conclusion

In nutshell, Django vs Rails is modern, robust, object-oriented and server-side web frameworks offering adequate flexibility and tools to develop high-end websites. Each of the frameworks has a large community base owing to their unique characteristics to be adopted by the developer fraternity.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to the top differences between Django vs Rails. Here we have discussed Django vs Rails head to head comparison, key differences along with infographics and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following Django vs Rails articles to learn more  –

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