Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails, is an open source
full-stack web framework in Ruby for writing real-world
applications.
Being a full-stack framework means that all layers are built
to work seamlessly together. That way you don't repeat yourself and you
can use a single language from top to bottom. Everything from templates
to control flow to business logic is written in Ruby.
Rails is a mature application with its development
starting in 2003.
Features include:
- Uses the Model/View/Controller (MVC) architecture pattern
to organize application programming
- The View layer is composed of "templates" that are
responsible for providing appropriate representations of your
application’s resources. Templates can come in a variety of formats,
but most view templates are HTML with embedded Ruby code (.erb files).
- The Model layer represents your domain model (such as
Account, Product, Person, Post) and encapsulates the business logic
that is specific to your application
- The Controller layer is responsible for handling incoming
HTTP requests and providing a suitable response. Usually this means
returning HTML, but Rails controllers can also generate XML, JSON,
PDFs, mobile-specific views, and more. Controllers manipulate models
and render view templates in order to generate the appropriate HTTP
response.
- ORM - ActiveRecord
- Testing frameworks - unit tests, functional tests and
integration tests
- DB migration frameworks
- Plug-in security frameworks
- Template frameworks
- Caching frameworks
- Form validation frameworks
- Automatic Query Explains
- Database Access Library: Ruby on Rails includes a database
access library - Active Record - that simplifies data handling in
databases. Active Record automatically maps tables to classes and rows
to objects
- Libraries for common tasks: Ruby on Rails includes a host
of libraries that simplify the coding of common programming tasks such
as form validations, sessions management, etc
- AJAX Library: An extensive library of AJAX functions is
provided in the Rails framework. Ruby code can be used to generate AJAX
code. The associated java scripting required for AJX gets generated
automatically
- Convention over configuration: Ruby on Rails does not have
any XML configuration files. It includes simple programming conventions
that can be used to specify the configuration parameters
- Customized URL: Custom or Search Engine Friendly URLs can
be developed using the Ruby on Rails framework
- Debugging: Detailed error logs are provided, making it
easier to debug applications
- Components: Components can be used to store reusable code.
Components can be included to modularize templates
- Tagged logging
- Low on dependencies
- Internationalization support
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Last Updated Friday, May 25 2012 @ 04:32 AM EDT
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