Ruby on Rails
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| Ruby on Rails | |
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 The Rails Default Page |
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| Developer: | Rails Core Team |
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| Latest release: | 1.2.3 / March 14, 2007 |
| OS: | Cross-platform |
| Use: | Web application framework |
| License: | MIT License |
| Website: | rubyonrails.com |
Ruby on Rails is a web application framework released in 2004 that aims to increase the speed and ease of web development. Often shortened to Rails, or RoR, it is an open source project written in the Ruby language.
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[edit] Philosophy
The fundamental Ruby on Rails principles include Don't repeat yourself (DRY) and Convention over Configuration.
"Don't repeat yourself" means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. For example, thanks to ActiveRecord, the classes' definitions don't need to specify column names; Ruby can retrieve this information from the database, so defining it in code would be redundant.
"Convention over Configuration" means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of their application. For example, if there's a class Sale in the model, the corresponding table in the database is called sales by default. It is only if someone deviates from this convention, such as calling the table "products_sold", that they need to write code regarding these names.
[edit] History
Ruby on Rails was extracted by David Heinemeier Hansson from his work on Basecamp, a project-management tool by the web-design company 37signals.[1] It was first released to the public in July 2004.
In August 2006, it was announced that Apple will ship Ruby on Rails with Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard," scheduled for release in Spring 2007.[2]
[edit] Rise in Popularity
Ruby on Rails has experienced a surge in popularity since its introduction.[3]
Computerworld magazine chose it as their top pick for "The Top Five Technologies You Need to Know About in '07".[4]
Hansson attributes this to the productivity advantages of such "opinionated software".[5] If they code along the Rails conventions—largely derived from Hansson's opinion on how software should work—developers can accomplish their goals with less code. For example, less effort is spent on specifying where data (files, class names, database tables) are located, since Rails knows what to look for.
[edit] Technical Overview
Like many contemporary web frameworks, Rails uses the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture for organizing applications.
Rails provides out-of-the-box scaffolding, which can quickly construct most of the logic and views needed for a basic website, the WEBrick web server and other helpful development tools.
Rails is also noteworthy for its extensive use of the Javascript libraries Prototype and Script.aculo.us, for Ajax and visual effects.
[edit] Projects using Rails
- Basecamp - online project management
- OpenCongress - Aggregated news and official data about the US Congress
- Penny Arcade - geek-humor comic strip
- Revolution Health - a health portal
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Grimmer, Lenz (2006-02). Interview with David Heinemeier Hansson from Ruby on Rails (English). MySQL AB. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
- ^ http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2006/8/7/ruby-on-rails-will-ship-with-os-x-10-5-leopard
- ^ http://www.railsonwave.com/railsonwave/2006/12/12/ruby-on-rails-is-gaining-momentum
- ^ http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011969&intsrc=hm_ts_head
- ^ http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/08/30/ruby-rails-david-heinemeier-hansson.html
