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What is it?

Ruby on Rails is a free open source Web application framework designed to make Web development faster, simpler and more efficient. Ruby on Rails is written in the Ruby programming language. The framework was extracted by David Heinemeier Hansson from his work on Basecamp, a project management tool by the Web design company 37signals. It was first released to the public in July 2004.

Who is it for?

According to the Ruby on Rails Web site, the framework is “optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity.” The site also claims that “everyone from startups to non-profits to enterprise organizations are using Rails.” Because of its focus on infrastructure, Rails is ideal for many types of Web applications, including eCommerce, content management, and statistics.

Features

Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed Web applications using the Model-View-Control pattern for organizing application programming. Rails offers a pure-Ruby development environment. The fundamental Ruby on Rails principles include “Convention over Configuration” and “Don’t repeat yourself.” “Convention over Configuration” means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. “Don’t repeat yourself” means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. But what sets Rails apart lies in how Ruby on Rails does it. Simple Web applications can be finished in days instead of weeks, and more complicated applications in weeks instead of months. In addition, the resulting applications are not messy or hard to maintain or extend. Ruby on Rails facilitates good programming practices, leading to well-factored and easily maintained code with no inherent limitations.

Rails itself consists of several components that can be installed and used separately. They are designed to work together seamlessly, and developers almost always use them together. They are: Active Record, the object-relational mapping layer that connects business objects to database tables; Action Pack, the component that implements both the view and controller portions of the MVC architecture; Prototype, the component that implements the Ajax, drag-and-drop, and visual effects within the Web pages; Action Mailer, the component that handles the sending and receiving of email; and Action Web Service, the component that makes it easy to add Web service APIs to the Web application. Rails also includes extensive use of the JavaScript libraries prototype and a graphical interface.

Compatibility

Rails works with a wide range of Web servers and databases. For the Web server, the product developers recommend Apache, lighttpd, or nginx proxying to Mongrel, but almost any server that implements CGI should work. For database, users can use MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, or any of the other many supported systems. Just about any operating system will do, but the developers recommend a ‘nix-based one for deployment. Ruby is required, with Ruby 1.8.6 recommended for use with Rails. Ruby 1.8.5, 1.8.4 and 1.8.2 are also usable, but version 1.8.3 is not.

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