# Can I really add Databases a lot easier to my website? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 28, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-i-really-add-databases-a-lot-easier-to-my-website/110618 "2007-07-28T07:20:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/efilm66)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-i-really-add-databases-a-lot-easier-to-my-website/110618/1 "2007-07-28T07:20:26Z")
Since you’re the experts, maybe you guys can verify this fact for me~ Is it definitely easier and much faster (how fast) to add a database or major feature into an existing site than if i were programming in PHP? I am developing a site and may want to add a mail center and user profile interface next year. For this reason am I better off finding a programmer who can do it in Ruby? Based on the fact that I may want to add/change features? Secondly, how many hours or days or weeks would it generally take a programmer to add a mail center (similar to that of “myspace’s” mail center) OR something like a user profile database into an existing site? to be more clear: a programmer I may hire said that if I went with ruby i could easily add new features and expand the site. is this really the case, and should i believe a Ruby programmer when he says it would take 50-80 hours to simply add a new feature here and there?.. or are these database fields relatively quick and easy to add (10-20 hours) into an existing site once the framework/foundation is built? Just trying to find out where time is actually saved and the speed of development increased with Ruby… because based on talking with this programmer, it sounds like time is of no essence. Thanks for any response! ---
**Author:** ![efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/efilm66)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-i-really-add-databases-a-lot-easier-to-my-website/110618/2 "2007-07-29T02:50:28Z")
Bob, First off your questions are very subjective. What I mean by this is that there are many, many variables that affect how long it takes to develop software. For example, it would take a programmer, significantly, longer to add a backing database to a web site if he had no pre-built tools to work with. It’s completely unfair to compare PHP, alone, against Ruby on Rails. There are frameworks written in PHP that are similar to Rails in that they provide the web framework. I have only been working with Ruby on Rails for a short time. I come from a Java background. I’ve been writing web applications in Java using the WebObjects development framework for around 6 years or so. Although I really like Java and WebObjects for building web sites, I find it pure joy to work in Ruby on Rails. I love Ruby as a programming language, and Rails is one of the greatest web frameworks I’ve ever encountered. Now here’s the tricky part: as of today, I can build sites faster in WebObjects than I can in Ruby on Rails. You ask, “Why is that?” The simple answer is that I know WebObjects inside-and-out. I don’t have to pause for long periods of time to learn how to do something in Rails that comes naturally to me in WebObjects. So then why my interest in Rails? This is also easy to answer. The things that I “have” learned about Ruby and Rails make it much easier for me to accomplish those tasks than building the same solution in Java and WebObjects. The reason for this has a lot to do with the fact that Ruby on Rails has many of the best-practice methodologies “baked” into the foundations of the framework. Things like convention over configuration, automatic object-relational mapping, strong focus on agile programming techniques, test driven methodologies, and REST baked into the framework. Ruby on Rails has an elegance that is unmatched by any other language/ framework I’ve ever work with. This elegance helps keep a programmer focused on what makes the application unique and useful to the customer. This results in a highly maintainable code base. Such code bases are naturally easier to extend to add new functionality. Here are a few links that I hope you will find useful: > **[Agile software development](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development)** > > In software development, agile practices (sometimes written "Agile") include requirements discovery and solutions improvement through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams with their customer(s)/end user(s), Popularized in the 2001 Manifesto for Agile Software Development, these values and principles were derived from and underpin a broad range of software development frameworks, including Scrum and Kanban. > While there is much anecdotal evidence that adopting a... > **[Scrum with XP | Introduction | InformIT](https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=26057&seqNum=1)** > > Ken Schwaber and Kane Mar argue that Scrum can be combined with XP engineering practices to generate a significant impact on the productivity of a project team. This article details a project in which this theory was put to work successfully. > **[Extreme Programming: A Gentle Introduction.](http://www.extremeprogramming.org/)** > > Extreme Programming (xp): A Gentle Introduction ---
**Author:** ![efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/efilm66)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-i-really-add-databases-a-lot-easier-to-my-website/110618/3 "2007-07-31T19:22:17Z")
Thank you very much for your answer. This helps a great deal! ---
**Author:** ![efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@efilm66](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/efilm66)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/can-i-really-add-databases-a-lot-easier-to-my-website/110618/4 "2007-07-30T04:10:55Z")
Robert W. wrote: > they provide the web framework. > in Ruby on Rails. You ask, “Why is that?” The simple answer is that I > has many of the best-practice methodologies “baked” into the > > > ## Is it definitely easier and much faster (how fast) to add a database or to be more clear: a programmer I may hire said that if I went with ruby Thanks for any response! > > > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). Wow Robert you’re such a good writer… 🙂 You should be writing these as published articles 🙂 I’m really glad there are such great answers in a mailing list. (Sorry for the OOT response) – Hendy I. > **[Hendy Irawan | Social Enterprise Consulting](https://www.hendyirawan.com)** > > Oxygen aid for COVID-19 patients in IndonesiaDistributing rice to the poor in IndonesiaDistributing aid to poor people in IndonesiaDistributing aid to poor people in Indonesia Donate to Indonesia Why