
Ask HN: What to learn after Rails? - up_or_down
I have been using Rails for various projects in the last 4-5 years. I feel, however, that it is time to learn a new tool.<p>I am fairly comfortable with Node as well, so that would not be my choice either.<p>Is there a new language + framework combo from the last 1-2 years that is worth learning and adopting as a new &quot;go-to web framework&quot;?<p>My main problems with Rails is that it&#x27;s really slow. I also just want to learn a new thing to get up to speed with latest good trends in programming.
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christophilus
I'd highly recommend learning a functional language.

If you're coming from Rails, Elixir + Phoenix, would be a logical step into
the functional world. It's a world that-- at least for me-- changed the way I
think about programming and improved my OO code along the way.

Another useful tool for your toolbelt would be a statically typed language.
Go, C, C++, C#, and Java are probably the biggest contenders, but there are
arguably more interesting candidates out there (F#, Scala, Kotlin, OCaml, Nim,
Haskell).

I come from a C# background, but do mostly JS and Ruby these days. I really
miss static typing. It's something everyone should try at least once. It's not
for everyone, but I feel 10x more productive with a good compiler and IDE.

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nibs
I learned Python/Django, then JavaScript/Node.JS, so somewhat similar to you.
I recently started using Go/Beego and it has been a real pleasure and
performance boost. Go is statically typed and compiled rather than run-time
interpreted, and Beego is one of the more robust web frameworks for it.
Go/Beego is huge in China but has minimal NA/Eur following. This works okay
though because the docs are all in English.

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up_or_down
Very interesting, thank you. I actually did a few Go lessons and found the
concepts refreshing. It is my #1 choice so far, but I wanted to Ask HN

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tmaly
I picked up Go a few years ago for my current side project. I have also been
using it at my day job for the past few months. I have been able to improve
performance on the order of 5-10x. In some cases I have beat out existing C++
code by 3x with care taken on the algorithm used.

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27182818284
Before I read your last part I would have said something completely different
like Prolog. You still may want to consider a completely different language
just for the experience.

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up_or_down
Thank you, my only concern is for this new knowledge to be somewhat
applicable. With Rails the upside was that I could do a ton of different
small-medium-sized projects - there is always a place to spin up a quick Rails
server to do some parsing / automate stuff.

If I try to pick something really esoteric I may end up not using it as much.
What would be the most area of application for Prolog? I looked up the Wiki of
course, but curious to hear a bit more casual perspective.

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smt88
Learn how to not use frameworks. Use libraries instead.

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nimmer
+1

