Hello all,

Ive recently come across Ruby on Rails (RoR) and have started to learn Ruby. While the language seems interesting (hard at times), I'm beginning to like it. For some reason though, I prefer PHP.

Ive also done some reading online on articles about RoR. Ive found out that RoR is nothing new, its just another MVC framework developed for web apps in Ruby. So what makes this framework stand out from already implemented frameworks such as .net and Java?

They say that web application development using RoR is much easier to do than using other frameworks. Some find RoR more adaptable for smaller projects as to enterprise scale projects.

I'd also like to mention that Im not a programmer. I dont like programming chunks of code to develop a desktop application. Ive briefly touched on programming languages in the past such as Delphi, C++, and Java. I could get somewhere with programmin, but I dont think I'll like it.

I see myself more as a web application developer, developing web applications, interactive websites, and some graphics here and there. Currently I've been constructing web sites using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL and MySQL as the database server.

Im looking to see whether I should make the switch to using an MVC framework like Ruby on Rails or to keep it much simpler and practical using PHP, since I already have experience in this area.

Its also worth considering that PHP is coming out with its own version of Ruby on Rails, called Cake. Other PHP variants include PHP on Trax and others.

If I decide to learn Ruby on Rails, I will have to consider learning Ruby, a pure Object Oriented language, which will demand most of my time and effort. I'd rather spend this time developing my personal web application online using the knowledge I already know.

What concerns me more importantly is the fact that Ruby on Rails has only been released recently (this year, if im not mistaken). PHP, on the other hand has been around for a longer time and is more popular/commonly used in industry.

Given all the essentials. Will RoR eventually catch up with PHP? Should I start learning RoR now? Is it worth making the switch from PHP to RoR?

Im looking to learning/using something that I could also use and benefit from in my career. Your insights will be appreciated.

Krz