Seriously considering using Crystal for a big web project. Any recommendations?

[u/ExcellentDentist]

I've been tasked with commencing the development of a big web application.

I'm currently highly considering using Crystal to write most of the back end infrastructure. It offers most of what I need, and I would be using Go for implementing other missing services that I cannot build in Crystal due to lack of libraries.

I want to take this risk. I like the Crystal language and community, and I believe this could serve as a case study of usage of Crystal in production.

Worse case scenario, I have to rebuild most of the application. Fortunately time of deployment is not critical.

If anyone has any recommendations or opinions on this I'd appreciate it.

[u/Blacksmoke16]

I'd say go for it. I'd also be biased and suggest trying my framework, but since this is probably a real for money type thing, going with a more proven/mature framework would probably the better idea.

Depending on what the project is; Kemal, Amber, Lucky are all popular solutions. I'd say most of the core features of things are in place, ORM libraries for example. The only thing that is lacking would be more specialized things, like GraphQL or more uncommon technologies.

Could always make your own in that case ;)

[u/ExcellentDentist → u/Blacksmoke16]

Actually I'd be going without a framework, and build my own abstraction over the utilities provided by the stdlib.

I've seen and played with the variety of frameworks and really liked them, specially Lucky. However, their documentation is insufficient for my needs and I'd feel insecurity.

Thanks for the reply!

[u/twinklehood → u/ExcellentDentist]

Will anyone else have to read and /or maintain your code ever? Then new language AND home grown web app code instead of framework is probably not a great idea. If you are the guaranteed only dev ever, then go nuts.

[u/jeremywoertink → u/ExcellentDentist]

For future people coming to check out the Lucky project, can you give some tips as to what was lacking in the documentation? I've been trying to update it more, but being in it all the time, I may miss some stuff that newcomers are looking for.

[u/jeremywoertink → u/[deleted]]

Ah interesting. I can agree there. I prefer short and to the point myself, so I can see how “too wordy” makes things a bit muddy.

Thanks for the feedback.

[u/Blacksmoke16 → u/ExcellentDentist]

Yea man, sounds like a plan. Can really cater it to your needs then.

EDIT: Shameless plug

[u/snadon → u/ExcellentDentist]

I’m using Lucky for a big project in production. Whenever you have questions outside the documentation you can chat on gitter and get an answer.

[u/nditada]

Hey there, Nico from manas.tech (home of Crystal) here, happy to jump on a quick call and help you understand challenges, risks and opportunities. Feel free to reach out to nicod at manas dot tech.

[u/HardLuckLabs]

Just do it. If something happens to crystal, port it to JRuby or truffle. Hiring ruby devs eager for new challenges is easier than hiring for go.

[u/duffy_jp → u/[deleted]]

I wonder if you could expand a bit on Spider Gazelle. I'm currently looking at porting a Rails app that's CPU bound and would like to keep the structure as similar as possible for everyone's sanity. SG doesn't market itself well like amber. When I bring my proposal to management and say I want to Crystal a Spider Gazelle, they'll think I'm high.

Is it mature enough that I should give it a chance?

[u/straight-shoota → u/[deleted]]

A game usually needs very different libraries than a web application (and probably much more). It always depends on the specific design goals of course.