Rails: Novice to Ninja, 3rd Edition

Chapter 1: Introducing Ruby on Rails

Since Ruby on Rails was first released, it has become a household name (well, in developers' households, anyway). Hundreds of thousands of developers the world over have adopted—and adored—this framework. I hope that, through the course of this book, you'll come to understand the reasons why. Before we jump into writing any code, let's take a stroll down memory lane and explore a little of the history of Ruby on Rails.

First, what exactly is Ruby on Rails?

The short-and fairly technical—answer is that Ruby on Rails (often abbreviated to “Rails”) is a full-stack web application framework written in Ruby. That is a distinction worth emphasizing. Ruby is a language and Rails is a framework. Say that last sentence ...