[Rails] Questions about rails and stores

[Scott Barron]

On Tue, Oct 12, 2004 at 04:01:53PM -0700, Eric Curtis wrote:
> Warning - Newbie Questions - I did not find answers to the following 
> questions in the online FAQ and examples.
> 
> First off I would like to share my background - I am mainly a 
> multimedia designer although I have a few years of experience with 
> Lingo (from Director) but I mostly develop websites. In the past I have 
> designed, cut the pages and created the html/css for many websites.

Hi, welcome.

> So here are the questions:
> 1. Has it been done/is it possible to create complete online store with 
> RAILS? Am I mistaking it's uses? An real world examples of stores?

It is certainly possible to create an online store and is definitely
within the scope of what Rails aims to provide.  Real world examples?  I
don't know of any yet, Rails was only publically released a couple
months ago.  I'm sure one will surface soon though.  That's not to say
there aren't some big projects (see Basecamp), I just don't know of any
online stores in particular.

> 2. How long would it take an average intelligence guy to get up to 
> speed with all of the following: Ruby, Rails and SQL (I know a bit 
> about that actually)? I would also be learning OO programming concepts 
> as well I suppose...advice appreciated...

You can learn enough to begin to produce pretty quickly.  Of course,
quality comes with time and experience, but there's nothing
magnificently difficult.  I'd think you can get enough Ruby knowledge to
start writing decent programs in a week or so (more or less, depending
on prior programming experience).  Check out the latest edition of the
Programing Ruby book by Dave Thomas.  It'll get you going.

> 3. I worry that even if it is possible to get the store going that I 
> will be too new or RAILS might not provide the amount of security 
> required for such an endeavor. Is Security easy to figure out?

Security is never easy to figure out.  I'm not aware of any current
limitations in the Rails framework that would add insecurity, though.
With an online store handling people's money, it's not something you
want to take too lightly.

> 4. I can not devout full time hours to learning this stuff, so should I 
> just look to hire someone instead and just go back to playing with my 
> Photoshop and Cinema 4D?

That's always an option.  I guess it depends on your goals.  If
programming an online store is something you _want_ to do, then go for
it.  If it's something you _have_ to have, right now, but don't
necessarily want to become a programmer, then hire someone to do it.  I
know there are more than a couple people proficient with Rails who might
be interested in taking on a project for pay.  It's totally up to you.
If you do decide to break into Rails, though, I think you will certainly
enjoy yourself.

Good luck,
-Scott
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