Introduction

What is Rails?

• An extremely productive web-application framework.
• Written in Ruby by David Heinemeier Hansson.
• You could develop a web application at least ten times faster with Rails than you could with a typical Java framework.
• An open source Ruby framework for developing database-backed web applications.
• Configure your code with Database Schema.
• No compilation phase required.

Full Stack Framework

• Includes everything needed to create a database-driven web application, using the Model-View-Controller pattern.
• Being a full-stack framework means all the layers are built to work seamlessly together with less code.
• Requires fewer lines of code than other frameworks.

Convention over Configuration

• Rails shuns configuration files in favor of conventions, reflection, and dynamic runtime extensions.
• Your application code and your running database already contain everything that Rails needs to know!

Rails Strengths

Rails is packed with features that make you more productive, with many of the following features building on one other.

Metaprogramming

Where other frameworks use extensive code generation from scratch, Rail framework uses Metaprogramming techniques to write programs. Ruby is one of the best languages for Metaprogramming, and Rails uses this capability well. Rails also uses code generation but relies much more on Metaprogramming for the heavy lifting.

Active Record

Rails introduces the Active Record framework, which saves objects into the database. The Rails version of the Active Record discovers the columns in a database schema and automatically attaches them to your domain objects using metaprogramming.

Convention over configuration

Most web development frameworks for .NET or Java force you to write pages of configuration code. If you follow the suggested naming conventions, Rails doesn't need much configuration.

Scaffolding

You often create temporary code in the early stages of development to help get an application up quickly and see how major components work together. Rails automatically creates much of the scaffolding you'll need.

Built-in testing

Rails creates simple automated tests you can then extend. Rails also provides supporting code called harnesses and fixtures that make test cases easier to write and run. Ruby can then execute all your automated tests with the rake utility.

Three environments

Rails gives you three default environments: development, testing, and production. Each behaves slightly differently, making your entire software development cycle easier. For example, Rails creates a fresh copy of the Test database for each test run.