What Are The Best Programming Languages for a Large-Scale Project?

2 points by sciguy77 14y ago ↗ HN

The company I work for is upgrading its systems from .NET (ug), and they want to know what languages to switch to. They have a massive user database and some complex algorithms that need to be run constantly. They want a site that is self-contained in that data can be collected and displayed in real time to admins. Right now our CTO is leaning heavily on Ruby on Rails, is this a good idea or a bad idea for such a complex project?

I apologize if this is vague, corporate rules and whatnot forbid me from going too much into details.

2 comments

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zsherman 14y ago ↗

Twitter seemed to give the power of Ruby on Rails a bad name, but wrongfully so. Rails is actually extremely flexible, scalable, and powerful. It actually runs some of the most powerful and heavy web applications out there; namely GitHub, Basecamp, and Groupon.

martey 14y ago ↗

This is a difficult question to answer, since you have not explained why the company is switching from .NET, and what it gains from switching to another language.

If your developers only have .NET experience, then switching is a Bad Idea. If they also know Ruby on Rails, you might survive, but I would suggest that you (or your CTO) read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html .