Is it Ruby on Rails or Java for You?

So you have a web development project in mind to be developed from scratch. For sure, it is a complex web application that has got to be rich in feature, scalable and maintainable. Among these core requirements, it’s difficult for teams to choose a programming language or a web framework that is objectively the best to suit the given requirements.

There are hosts of technologies and programming languages available. Of these enterprises have widely embraced open source object-oriented programming languages like Java, Python, Ruby etc. for their web development requirements. Considering the coding advantages and structure of language, the most preferable languages that come to my mind are Ruby on Rails and Java since the other language i.e. Python is loosely structured which makes the development process longer.

Now the question here arises whether to choose Ruby on Rails or Java technology for your web application development requirements.

Let us take a closer look at both these technologies from the following perspectives to make an objective decision-

Find out the bests of Java & Ruby

Tools, Libraries and APIs:

Since Java has been around for a long time, there are several tools, APIs and libraries available which makes its infrastructure more powerful than Ruby. Having this kind of infrastructure is more essential when a company matures and customers demanding high quality services and features expands. Since Ruby is younger than Java, it lacks the support of such tools, libraries and APIs. This makes Ruby stand lower compared to Java.

Learning Curve:

As Java comes with various combinations of libraries and technologies to be applied while coding, developers have to spend more time in learning different architecture and sorting out the details. On the contrary, Ruby helps you get started quickly due to its simple development architecture which is easy to learn and apply. Hence the vote goes to Ruby for the advantage on learning curve.

Manageability of Codes:

With Java, managing codes and defining classes is easy owing to its statically typed programming language. In Java, especially with Eclipse, you can search defined methods and classes which are better than calling something hypothetical as in Ruby where handling codes and naming classes is difficult due to its dynamic language type. With dynamic typing, it’s confusing and difficult to assume what you are typing and changing since there are no warnings from the Static compiler. This ends up spending more time in Ruby and difficulty in managing codes.

Testability & Robustness:

Although both the languages have good support for regression testing, Ruby is slightly ahead of Java as it relies strongly on automated tests which ensure things do not break easily if there are changes at the other end of the application.

Scalability and Stability:

In terms of scalability and stability, Java beats Ruby due to the scalable architecture of all the frameworks of Java. In the event of outages and unfavorable environments or with a large number of users and database, Java frameworks are more secure and dependable than Ruby. Even corporates prefer Java over Ruby for their critical applications which means Java outweighs Ruby on scalability and stability grounds.

Percentage Hiring:

A survey conducted two years ago in cooperation with the SHARE user group, IBM and Northern Illinois University on 376 employers revealed that Java is the most sought after language by enterprises for hiring. Java accounted for 56% while Ruby constituted only 5%.

Considering the above perspectives, you may find that Java is better if you want the backend of your application to be more scalable and manageable while Ruby can be a choice if you want to get it done quickly. For those who cannot decide, here is an example of the social media giant – Twitter. 

Find out what and how it did.

See what Twitter did

Twitter is one of popular and highly used micro-blogging and social networking services started in 2006.

Twitter in its early years was running on Ruby on Rails. With over-usage by people across the world, there was a time when Twitter became vulnerable as the number of tweets and queries increased which created load on the back-end server. Moreover, the search latencies also increased which reduced the request handling making it unavailable for users.

Hence in 2010, the engineers at Twitter realized that Ruby was not enough capable of juggling with the tweets of millions of people across the world.

The team found that Java frameworks because of higher scalability and maintainability were well-suited to develop web-services that can stand the large traffic. The engineers started rewriting the Twitter search engines and moved it from MySQL to Lucene. They also replaced the frond-end Ruby with Blender – a Java Server to improve the search latencies and sustain the traffic.

Twitter engineers also installed JVM (Java Virtual machines) across all their servers and created an independent web service which communicates with each other constantly but also looks after various part of their web application. Like there will be an independent web service that will look after Twitter homepage and another that will handle tweets from mobile.

As a result of these changes, Twitter started running 3x faster without any problems.

Mazen Rawashdeh - Twitter's VP of Infrastructure Operations Engineering then said “The bottom line: No matter when, where or how people use Twitter, we need to remain accessible 24/7, around the world.” "We’re hard at work delivering on that vision."

This is how Twitter moved from ROR to Java and managed to be on top even after so many crisis.

Java surely rules it

From the above example, it’s evident that Java is better than Ruby on several grounds. It is not only a programming language for developing application but also a virtual machine that can run codes built in myriad languages. Even big operations like Google, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Square, have adopted Java because of its ease of use and ability to handle multiple operations through the JVM.

Owing to its lightweight and fast-to-deploy architecture, Java is gaining recognition. As published in a post on Zd.net, Wired Enterprise’s Editor Cade Metz observed that "Like Twitter, many other companies have realized that Java is particularly well suited to building web services that can stand up to the massive amounts of traffic streaming across the modern internet,"

However, it is still portrayed as an insecure framework but after Oracle acquired Sun – the original producer of Java, it has become more stable and secure programming language.

So now what do you think? Is it ROR or Java for your web development project? Do let us know in commens section. 

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7 Must Have Modules in an Ideal Property Management System

The real estate industry is getting more ‘n’ more complicated with each passing day. It requires a lot of paperwork, which consumes a vast area of storage. As the industry grows more paperwork will start to increase the number of files needed to manage it. To overcome such issue, it has become imperative for the people associated with the real estate to invest in web-based software or property management portals that has the ability to store a huge data while helping them streamline entire property management related activities on the go.

A good property management won’t cost you, but it will help you make more money on behalf of your real estate business. No matter who you’re, whether you’re a property owner, fee manager or developer, you can leverage from a whole host of benefits from the effective property management portal or real estate management system. It lets the real estate owners manage their day-to-day tasks, enable tracking of multiple accounts, minimize security risks, save costs and offer a lot more benefits on the go.

However, when it comes to choose the real estate or property management system or application, many people forget to consider a few very important modules or features. Are you looking for an ideal property management portal or a system? Ensure you consider all the important software modules discussed below in this article:

1. Does it offer Lot management module?

Lot module helps the real estate agent or property dealer to define categorize buildings in terms of lots and numbers. Such modules would enable developers with ease of segregation and grouping of the properties. It becomes very handy when you’ve multiple properties to deal with.

2. Unit management matters a lot!

Units serves a critical role in the property management portal. It is very important for the developer or a property dealer define units appropriately and fill up the details accurately. An ideal property management portal should offer efficient unit management, which will help property dealers or developers to define units and fill up the details, such as unit number, type, entitlement, lot number, building number, floor area, car parking and so on.

3. What about owner management?

It is one of the most important feature that every real estate management system should provide to the user. An ideal property management portal or system should easily display the information about current owner, their email address, unit owned by the specific owner, position, property related documents and other details related to the owner.

4. Should provide effective tenant management

If someone has assigned his/her property to the tenants, it becomes crucial for the real estate agents or even for the property dealers to keep the up to date details about it. An ideal property management portal or system should provide ample details about the existing as well as past tenants. Moreover, it should provide details related to the lease, such as start date, expiration date, related contracts and more.

5. Efficient service charge management is crucial

While dealing with the properties, dealers or developers should be aware about the service charge that is going to be taken from the users as well as manage them smoothly. It involves a service charge defined for the specific property for the financial year selected and create invoices respectively. It should clearly state whether the service charge conducted is normal, special or includes any other charges along with other details.

6. Well-managed discount and penalty details

The real estate management system should also offer efficient and well-managed discount and penalty details, which includes specific discounts and penalty for non-payment and prepayment of funds in consort with the ability to provide due date and grace period. It will greatly simplify the way property dealers manage such critical details.

7. Contract and agreement is crucial!

While dealing with the properties, it is important to keep track record of the contractors who have assigned services to be provided from their end. An ideal system should offer a means of managing such crucial details. A system should offer developers or dealers to define different types of contractors who are assigned special tasks to be accomplished to the property and their agreement with the property.

Apart from all these, one should also consider other features and modules like the ease of collaborating documents online, customizable analytics and reports that will help you take better decisions, instant access to the key properties, budget and forecasting, lease tracking, repair and maintenance, expense management and more.

Here’s an example of an ideal property management system developed for a Dubai-based real estate operator. This system was developed in Java technology using Grails framework. Check out how it helps in managing property related issues 

Do you want to develop a real estate management system or a property management portal? Get in touch with us. 

Cygnet Infotech is now a Samsung Partner

Cygnet Infotech on 2^nd September, 2013 acquired partnership with Samsung under Samsung Enterprise Alliance Program (SEAP).

SEAP is an affiliate program that provides technical, marketing and sales support to companies in developing enterprise mobile solutions. The program aims to improve the potentials of mobile business by extending support and expertise to partners for solution development as well as marketing and distribution activities.

Cygnet Infotech became Silver Partner of Samsung under the ISV (Independent Software Vendor) Program. With this, we now belong to the network that has access to the extended library of the Samsung Enterprise SDK for developing more secure and powerful solutions for Samsung mobiles. This partnership also enables our programmers and developers to utilize more than 300 functions of Samsung’s Android devices for developing high-end mobile solutions. Besides these, being a Silver Partner of Samsung, Cygnet gets following benefits:

• Access to UX Guide for mobile application development and design
• Access to Technical Support Site for troubleshooting solutions development
• Access to Samsung’s network that includes channel partners, customers and carriers for marketing and promoting solutions
• Chance to participate in showcases and conferences hosted by Samsung

With these benefits, Samsung partnership positions us to cater to the demands of today's mobile market and optimize solutions for Samsung devices by integrating security, application, and hardware management thereby enhancing our overall IT enterprise solutions competence.

5 Essential Qualities of a Good Java Developer

One of the burning question every business owner or IT manger faces today is how to find the best man for his job. It’s important that he chooses the right developer for the job as it ensures better development and results. There has always been a shortage of high-caliber Java developers over the last few years. While there are many people who know a bit of Java programming, there are just a handful of skilled Java developers who possess a deep understanding the platform and the development process.

If you are looking for an expert java developer, the ideal 5 qualities you should look for are listed below:

1. Impressive Technical Background

One of the fundamental thing every manager looks for is the Java developer’s technical background. A developer with sound technical background with a degree in Engineering in Computer Science or Master in Computer Science is sought by most companies.

A look at the projects he did in his college can serve as windows to the real interest of the developer. Java or J2EE certification is also a good sign of his well-developed technical skill. While there are a handful of genius developers who are self-taught, most people hiring Java developers first look for educational qualifications or certifications.

2. Projects Handled

Next thing that recruiters and tech leaders look into is the experience of the candidate – the kind of projects he has handled. Usually, the requirement for an expert developer is for a new project that requires talented developer, or for an ongoing project where an existing developer is leaving in the hopes of greener pastures.

So, the Java team leader try to find out if the developer has worked with similar technologies and projects before. For example, if you are looking to develop a project on Grails then it’s better to have an adequate developer who already has hands-on experience on Grails rather than having a rock-star Java developer who will work on Grails for the first time.

3. Communication Skill

A large part of development relates to understanding the requirements of a project clearly. It also has a lot to do with sharing your ideas regarding development. So, one valuable skill companies and team leaders respect in a developer is the ability to share his or her idea easily. Most companies look for a good communication skills in the developer. A developer with mix of good technical skills and communication skill can succeed tremendously.

4. Passion

Companies look for developers who are passionate about Java programming language and who believe that it the #1 programming language. It may sound crazy – surely there are several other languages out there that can do the job as well. But a developer needs to be crazy about java – such a quality will drive him to find solutions of complex problems if he is stuck.

Also, if he is passionate, he won’t feel shy in offering new and creative solutions for development. It will also ensure high quality of Java Application Development. Developers who have their own blog or who contribute to blogs and enter into debates regarding Java have a good chance of impressing the interviewers.  

5. Flexibility

After the developer passes all the above tests and has proven that he has the qualities that make a great Java developers, the battle is mostly won. But there is one more thing that separates the good from the best. Developers are human and they would like to work 40 hours a week like everyone else. But a good developer is flexible in terms of time – he or she is ready to work extra hours when the project requires it. Also, a developer who can remove or add features and make a dozens of changes (that have to be made because of someone else’s errors) and work hard without grumbling is an asset to any team.

These are some of the ingredients that go into making a great Java developer – according to some of the Java leaders that I talked with. What do you feel? What qualities would you look for in a Java developer who was joining your team?