Open Source Identity: Ruby on Rails Creator David Heinemeier Hansson

One of the most popular and successful open source software development initiatives is Ruby on Rails, created by David Heinemeier Hansson. With Rails, thousands of developers can organize sophisticated applications rapidly and consistently, and the development environment also has supported the advent of a Web application framework in which elements are employed for database connectivity and other common tasks.

"I think the fundamental thing that set Rails apart was a culture of putting the programmer first," Hansson says. "The idea that Web programming should be fun and that programmers should be enjoying themselves." He believes that Rails gave the interest in frameworks a leg up, particularly for PHP programmers.

Hansson says Rail is under constant development, and he responds to criticism that Rails is not sufficiently swift with the answer that it certainly could be faster, but then so could everything else. "We continue to work on it as much from a sense of professional pride as from a sense of practical need," Hansson says.

He also says that cloud computing seems like a natural fit for Rails, since it promises to accelerate hardware deployment in the same sense that Rails promises to accelerate software development.

From Computerworld Australia
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