I currently have to work on an application using JRuby on Rails 3.2. My background is 12+ years of Java centric web development using Eclipse or IntelliJ.

There are a few things that I love about working with Java in Eclipse or IntelliJ that I miss when working with Rails:

• Java’s backwards compatibility
• Java’s cross-platform consistency
• That Java has a static type system and is a compiled language
• The relatively rigid syntax of Java that prevents idiosyncratic DSLs
• Being able to control mutability, extensibility and visibility at compile-time (private, final)
• Java’s distinction of interfaces vs implementation classes
• Powerful auto-completion and Refactoring in the IDE
• Powerful code inspections and quickfixes in the IDE
• IDE and compiler feedback about mistakes and design flaws in my code
• The powerful and rich ORM features of JPA and Hibernate

Dynamic language fans might cringe at some of the points listed above. Feel free to provide constructive feedback or well-reasoned criticism.

There are however a couple of things that I like about Ruby on Rails 3.2:

• Dependency management using gems and bundler
• A very standardized project layout (directory structure and conventions)
• Code generation (as a convenient way to quickly create sample code)
• Out-of the box integration and support for JQuery, CoffeeScript, SASS
• Cool gems like colorbox-rails for turning a regular view into a modal dialog
• The asset pipeline

I am still in the early phase of my Rails experience and I will try to post more about it as things evolve.