| >In 2005, when nobody used Rails, as a complete beginner to Ruby, I was able to write a patch to improve the Oracle database adapter. Somehow, despite all the magic, it took me very little time to find what to change and submit a patch. As a complete newbie to the language and platform. One part of the system not being obfuscated doesn't mean that many other important parts aren't. >Rails 2 and below revolved around a lot of hacks. Rails 3 removed many of those. Rails 4 even more so. Check out the book "Crafting Rails 4 Applications" to see how easy it is to hook into places in the framework to get what you need. (Disclosure: I'm the editor of that book.) I currently maintain both Rail 2.3 and Rails 4 applications. I totally agree that Rails 4 is a much smoother experience. There are still hacks around the magic that I've had to implement. The one most immediately on the top of my head is one of the form generators ignoring the method argument in some circumstances because it knows better and forcing me to jury rig them into obeying the command anyway (with a bit of JavaScript that alters the method on-page IIRC). >The argument you make about "voiding the warranty" is an argument I hear from people who have touched Rails for a project and hated it for one reason or another. It's not a sensible argument. Of course it's a sensible argument. Frameworks shouldn't be causing those feelings in people -- the magic isn't magical if it's getting in the way. If people are coming away with the impression that the system will blow up or otherwise misbehave when they try to peel back the covers, it's ignorance to just blame them for feeling wrong. One should try to at least understand the problem; then, you can decide if it's a problem that needs correction or if you're just OK with people who want some flexibility and cooperation from the framework not using your stuff and be honest about that so that they don't have to waste their time. >Remember, for centuries, people used "magic" to explain away something they didn't understand. :) And, also for centuries, people used "magic" to hoodwink gullible people. |