Ruby on Rails
I started playing with Ruby on Rails over the weekend, applying it to a hobby project that’s been on hold for a while. I had a MySql database with some test data in it, and I did some cutting and pasting from a Rails tutorial to put a management front-end on it. I’m very impressed. For this kind of job, where the structure of the relational database provides the model in an MVC setup, Rails looks like a real shortcut to a full-featured interface. I love the “scaffold” feature, which gives you basic forms that you can gradually replace with your own customized views. It reminds me of the Dadabik project for PHP.
And today Slashdot has a performance comparison with Java, done by the author of a book on Spring (so no anti-Java bias there), showing Rails looking very very good.
What I haven’t done yet is look at how you handle XML in Rails. Is there an XML:DB implementation for Ruby?
There's a Ruby binding for BDB and BDB XML (including support for 2.0, which adds XQuery). Also, eXist has a nice REST interface. I'm attracted to Rails too, but I also think using a RDBMS is more hassle than it's worth for much of this sort of data.
What I'd like to have in Rails is the ability to use an XML schema as the model, in the same way as it currently uses the DB structure. It could then bind the form to an XML document just like Cocoon Forms do. But I have no idea if anything like that is possible.