
Ask HN: Am I right or just procrastinating? - methochris
I already know python and Flask but I have this burning desire to switch over to Ruby on Rails. Everything about it seems so appealing and time-saving, from the documentation to the quality of support sites like rubygems. Flask&#x2F;django have nothing like this and are such a mess in comparison. Is learning a new language&#x2F;framework worth the time investment or am I just addicted to wasting time?
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davelnewton
Rails and Flask are apples and oranges; something like Sinatra would be
closer. There's no way to know if it's a "waste of time" because we don't know
what you're doing or why. There are more Rails-like frameworks for Python.

If you have a "burning desire" to learn something, then learn it. But the
notion that it'll magically make all your development easier is a pipe dream.

~~~
methochris
i'm attemptimg to make something, so far with flask, that has left me with
what i'd consider a cobbled-together mess of random extensions, some
maintained, some not, some snippits of code gathered here or there over the
years. it does work but for how long and can i really trust it to run a
business on? my gut says "no".

i'm aware of the other other python frameworks but most of them fair even
worse in the areas i'm concerned about. most are abandonware or small projects
that will be difficult to get help with. django is the obvious answer but
theres alot of things that really rub me wrong about it. the documentation
sucks, i hate the templating engine, i hate the routing with regular
expressions, and i hate subclassing things that is impossible to find the code
for the master class.

ruby/rails seems like just what it is: a way to make building web applications
as fun as can be and there is an army of people that have contributed to that
and from everything i can see, they have succeeded and i want to learn how to
use it.

~~~
davelnewton
Then learn how to use it--it's unclear to me what the issue is.

(Noting that Rails plugins are much the same--some work, some don't, some are
maintained well, some aren't, version conflicts, etc.)

Regarding "finding the code" \-- Rails is much, much worse in that regard.
There is a lot of magic, and functionality can be difficult to locate.

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tbirrell
You should always be learning something new. If this is what peaks your
interest, do it. In a month come back and see if you want to make the switch
professionally (assuming this is your day job). The worst that'll happen is
you'll know something new.

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savethefuture
Learn learn learn learn learn, dont stick to one thing for too long. Branch
out, experiment, try new things.

