Rails Is More Than An API

Not directly related to the article, but I think the presentation linked at the end[0] is a good practical intro to Backbone.js and rich-client-side architecture.<p>Not having Rails background myself, I find that it nicely summarizes key differences between ‘traditional’ server-rendered and newer styles of writing web applications. I wish I came across something similar when I was starting with Backbone.js.<p>[0] <a href="http://speakerdeck.com/u/brennandunn/p/rails-without-views" rel="nofollow">http://speakerdeck.com/u/brennandunn/p/rails-without-views</a>

This truly is a great, measured response to all the crazy talk about punting all of the great work that Rails and the core team has done over the last 7 years. Bravo.

I agree that we still need backends but I think they will need to move locations. The client app should sit on a dedicated server for serving static resources; Apache and Nginx do this very well. The new "backend" will just be your API endpoint. CORS will make this much easier but for now proxy pass will suffice.<p>In 2012 I see no reason why a JavaScript application should be served by anything but a dedicated web server.