[Rails] Questions about rails and stores

[David Heinemeier Hansson]

> 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 most certainly is. There are at least a couple of developers working 
on stores including Florian Weber (responsible for the new OO-style 
associations among other things). Making a real store is somewhat of a 
significant effort, though, so I wouldn't expect people would just 
release their work as open source.

> 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...

There is no answer to this question, really. It very much depend on 
your background in programming. But if you do have a clue on the 
basics, I'd gather it shouldn't take more than a few weeks to have a 
good grab on what's going on in examples. But mastering the concepts is 
still something quite different.

> 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 imho never easy to figure out, but Rails at least attempts 
to help in form of especially the before_filter stuff that can help you 
protect actions. Rails is fully capable of implementing any security 
model you'd like. It has less to do with Rails and more to do with 
knowledge of general principles.

> 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?

I think it's wonderful that you're branching out. But I would recommend 
hiring some professional help to at least look over your code once 
you're done. And more likely also be available during development.

When you're making a shop, you're dealing with transactions, and 
possibly credit cards. If something goes wrong, it's not just a forum 
posting that is missed, but potential dollars. That shouldn't 
intimidate you, but just serve as a reminder.
--
David Heinemeier Hansson,
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