Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
About Sinatra Framework
3.
Why Sinatra?
4.
Frequently Asked Questions
4.1.
What is Sinatra?
4.2.
What is a Domain Specific Language(DSL)?
4.3.
What is Rack?
4.4.
What are web frameworks other than Sinatra?
4.5.
What is an API in Sinatra?
5.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
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What is Sinatra?

Author Rajat Agrawal
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Introduction

A web application is a program stored on a remote server and delivered over the Internet through a browser interface. Creating a web application has become a significantly easier task nowadays because of the different Web frameworks present in the industry. Sinatra is one of the web frameworks written in Ruby language that can be used to create Web Applications and services.

Sinatra

Let’s learn about the Sinatra web framework.

About Sinatra Framework

Sinatra is an open-source framework developed in Ruby. It is a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort. It is intended to be a simple yet extremely powerful and versatile way to develop web-delivered applications with minimal setup, configuration, or effort. Basically, Sinatra makes it quick and simple to launch a web service.

What is Sinatra?

Sinatra leverages the fundamental capability of the Ruby programming language by allowing you to map incoming web requests to blocks of Ruby code. It builds on a Rack to do this. Rack is a webserver interface that allows Ruby frameworks to deal with HTTP or Web communications systematically. It enables you to manage any HTTP request and the pipeline of actions you may need to address, such as authentication, caching, and more, to provide a fantastic web-based software experience.

A basic app in Sinatra will look like this:-

# app.rb
require 'sinatra'
get '/' do
  'Hello Ninjas!'
end
You can also try this code with Online Ruby Compiler
Run Code

Why Sinatra?

There are many other web application frameworks out there in the industry. For Example,

  • Ruby on Rails: Another Ruby-based framework for web development.
  • Django:  A Python based web-development framework.
  • Flask: Another Python based web-development framework.
  • Express: A Node.js based web-dev framework.

There are many more frameworks that can be added to the above list.

Why Sinatra?

The functionalities that makes Sinatra different from these frameworks and why it is recommended to use over them are:

  • Sinatra is written on top of Ruby language, which is very easy to learn and beginner-friendly.
  • Sinatra is a lightweight framework. When you start your initial application, there aren't many conventions, setups, or complexities because it's barebones.
  • It's extensively used, has a large development community, is fast, and scalable to a broad range of application and scenario sizes. Fundamentally, it's an excellent tool for many projects.
  • Many large corporations utilize it to help deploy their software. You can be sure it's a good one to invest time in studying if they're utilizing it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sinatra?

Sinatra is an open-source framework developed in Ruby. It is a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for quickly creating web applications in Ruby with minimal effort.

What is a Domain Specific Language(DSL)?

A domain-specific language (DSL) is a computer language specialized for a particular application domain.

What is Rack?

Rack is a webserver interface that allows Ruby frameworks to deal with HTTP or Web communications systematically. It enables you to manage any HTTP request and the pipeline of actions you may need to address, such as authentication, caching, and more, to provide a fantastic web-based software experience.

What are web frameworks other than Sinatra?

Some popular web frameworks besides Sinatra are Ruby on Rails, Django, Flask, Express, Spring, etc.

What is an API in Sinatra?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.

Conclusion

In this article, we have extensively discussed Sinatra Framework, what sinatra is, and why to use choose sinatra over other frameworks. I hope you enjoyed reading this article on What is Sinatra?

If you want to learn more, check out our articles on What Is Web2Py?Why To Use Web2py?Postbacks and Internationalization in web2pyThird Party Modules In Web2pyTasks In Web2py, and  XML in Web2py.

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Happy Coding!

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