It's so weird that you'd even consider putting Rails in the same category as FoxPro, even as a theoretical.
Rails is kicking ass. A huge number of people are coming back from bloated JS frameworks to realize that Rails just keeps getting better every year.
Hotwire and similar technologies make the argument for SPAs look very questionable.
And let's not forget where we are; over 75% of the raw gross value created by YC-backed companies use Rails. So it seems like Rails is only popular with successful startups.
I think TypeScript is important because of how bad JS operators are defined (operator matrix is just plain stupid, throwing error would be a better option), but everything else is optional. Otherwise JS is good enough.
On the other hand hotwire (moving HTML around) costs real latency and money to mobile users with data plans. Since when it’s better than just executing code on the (for most people strong enough mobile) device with close to 0 cost?
I fail to understand how shuttling JSON back and forth is superior to sending the HTML fragment(s) that have changed.
JSON needs to be parsed and in 99% of scenarios, this blocks the main thread.
Once the JSON has been converted to a data structure and passed around through your SPA's state logic and template rendering, what do you do? You convert it to HTML and render it.
No matter how you slice it, sending HTML fragments and updating the DOM is faster and lighter than sending JSON. My app is already displayed and responsive before your app has even started parsing.
The above doesn't even address the complexity and additional failure modes that you take on when you have to handle edge cases and errors, all of which is quite literally reimplementing functionality that the browser and HTTP already give you.
SPA supremacy is a group delusion mind virus. Thank goodness the pendulum is finally swinging back.
Rails is kicking ass. A huge number of people are coming back from bloated JS frameworks to realize that Rails just keeps getting better every year.
Hotwire and similar technologies make the argument for SPAs look very questionable.
And let's not forget where we are; over 75% of the raw gross value created by YC-backed companies use Rails. So it seems like Rails is only popular with successful startups.