
Merb 1.0 released - nickb
http://merbist.com/2008/11/09/merb-1-0-released/
======
kuniklo
I don't get it. One of the best things about Rails is that I don't have to
pick and choose my components. I use what everybody else is using and I know
that means it's likely to work and be reasonably well documented. Any small
gains I might achieve by swapping out one layer of Rails are going to be more
than offset by the extra complexity of my unique Merb environment.

DHH's arguments about "opinionated" software seem to have been lost on the
Merb crowd.

~~~
Locke
This is great if you happen to love every design decision the Rails crew has
made for you. If not...

I don't think Merb will replace Rails. I think, ultimately, the two appeal to
different crowds. Too some extent, I hope people who are happy with Rails stay
with Rails. Merb _feels_ like it's more aligned with the Ruby community than
the Rails community. If that makes any sense.

~~~
kuniklo
You're never going to love _every_ decision made by the designers of any
platform. The thing is, you're likely to make just as many missteps on your
own. Every once in a while it's worth it to start with a clean slate but I
don't think Rails is even close to that point yet.

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markbao
Any former Ruby on Rails developers want to share their experience switching
to Merb?

~~~
Locke
I made one small demo app in Merb about a month ago -- so, slightly pre-1.0.
Overall, it was a good experience and I intend to continue exploring Merb.

A few points:

* Not as much documentation... sometimes it takes a while to find the Merb equivalent of some Railsism. The interfaces for Merb are very similar to Rails, though, so usually just trying the equivalent is enough. The differences I encountered were usually improvements over the Rails approach, IMHO.

* Smaller community. So, fewer plugins, fewer examples, fewer HOWTOs, etc. Hopefully this will change. But if you're uncomfortable developing something without a ton of resources to leverage...

* More flexible. I used Datamapper instead of ActiveRecord, and was _very_ happy to have a choice. I was also very happy with Datamapper itself. I'm not sure Datamapper is mature enough, yet, for large scale projects, but the future is bright.

Overall, I think Merb benefits strongly from the "hindsight is 20/20" adage.
It takes the best of Rails and rethinks its shortcomings. Where Rails was more
revolutionarly, Merb is evolutionary. I think the improvements are worth the
trouble of learning another web framework. I intend to use Merb for any new
projects I start.

My demo app is <http://ifrotz.org> \-- not that it's at all enlightening in a
Merb vs Rails debate.

~~~
davidw
Thanks for the answer, but you only cite one advantage, that of flexibility.
Surely there must be others?

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Locke
In short, yes there are other advantages. If you just want a list, the release
announcement is full of goodies. I was really just listing the things I
noticed when working on one small app. As to features I haven't used, yet...
I'm probably most excited about Merb's slices. Slices are potentially a huge
win for code organization and re-use across webapps.

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jamongkad
A little off-topic but whatever happened to Ramaze? It seemed to have so much
potential....

