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.
Website: rubyonrails.org
Support: Guides
Developer: David Heinemeier Hansson
License: MIT License
Ruby on Rails is written in Ruby. Learn Ruby with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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