[0xsnowcrash]

Rails, as any backend system such as Drupal or Symfony, is inevitably a dead end technology.

The web is increasingly moving frontend and the system of 2018 onwards will simply be the M in MVC.

Note, I'm not saying Rails is not worth learning. I'm just saying it's now the Cobol of web technology.

[pyrophane]

If I read your comment correctly, I believe you are suggesting that backends will provide APIs, which would leave us with the MC in MVC, the controller is still needed to map data structures to API endpoints.

My question to you is this: why do you believe that? I think we have all witnessed a growth in popularity in front-end MVC frameworks, but are they the correct solution to all problems?

[whyileft]

> the controller is still needed to map data structures to API endpoints.

I mean, kind of. You don't really need much controller logic most of the time anymore. Last Rails backend I wrote probably involved personally writing a few lines of code here and there. Generally, I'm just pushing a JSON object back and forth. Auth and emails can just be 3rd party. The vast majority of controller type behavior ends up client side at this point. Partly, because its way simpler to scale with you push as much processing to the client as you can. Also, look at something like Firebase or Hoodie as examples of simple stores that require no backend logic.

Its not that Rails and Symfony are useless, I use them all the time, its just that they are kind of dated concepts. Heck even Wordpress solves a specific problem on the backend enough to be useful sometimes. That said Drupal at this point is such a dated concept(superseded by things like Rails and Symfony many years ago) that is should no longer be used.

[cutler]

Well, I don't think anyone's taking much notice of that advice if you go by job stats. Drupal is enjoying tremendous adoption and if you look at Drupal 8 code you'll discover it is built on Symfony components.

[BOBOTWINSTON]

Not to mention Rails has an API only generator for new apps now... so this problem is framework destroying 'use case' is solved with a single flag.

[patsplat]

Front-end MVC frameworks are deployed and run client-side. Their emergence is a supporting point to the argument that the view is migrating away from the web server and onto the client device(s).

[pmontra]

I can imagine more and more web apps as frontends to multiple services of other companies, but there is still space for custom backends. I've got a customer that is developing its company around a custom ERP (under development) because he says there is nothing out there that can interface the systems he has to exchange data with. Of course sooner or later somebody will provide those services, using backend technologies.

[eternalvision]

Can you provide examples of the move you describe?