When NetworkWorld put out a list of Web sites they thought IT professionals should be taking a closer look at in 2009, I took a closer look. After all, as the article's author, Carolyn Duffy Marsan stated, the list wasn't created for "geeks," but rather for "IT professionals of a certain age, who don’t spend every waking hour online but need to keep up with the latest innovations on the Internet."
While I don't admit to being of a certain age, I do admit to wanting to keep up on the latest innovations. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that #8 on the list wasn't actually a Web site, but a programming language--Ruby on Rails! Marsan touts the Rails platform as among the best open-source development platforms seen in recent years. Well, she'd get no argument here.
With Merb and Rails working on a merger and the recently-AT&T-acquired YellowPages.com among the number of large sites disproving concerns about Ruby on Rails' scalability, Ruby on Rails is certainly a contender in the IT world. So, if you haven't started learning this language, now is the time. Why not start by learning what the Ruby on Rails framework is all about?