Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails, often simply called Rails, is a popular open-source web application framework written in the Ruby programming language. It is designed to make web development faster, easier, and more fun.

Rails follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which separates the application into three interconnected parts. This separation helps in managing resources, processing logic, and the user interface independently.

One of Rails' guiding principles is "Convention over Configuration." This means that by default, Rails makes assumptions about what a developer needs to get started with an application, reducing the amount of configuration code needed.

Rails emphasizes the DRY principle, encouraging developers to write reusable code and minimize redundancy, which leads to more maintainable, extendable, and less buggy code. Rails is written in Ruby, a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented programming language known for its simplicity and productivity. Ruby's readable syntax contributes to Rails' ease of use and popularity.

Rails includes a variety of built-in tools that support common web development tasks, such as scaffolding that automatically generates the basic components of a web application. Rails uses Active Record, an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) system, to facilitate data manipulation in the database through Ruby objects.

Rails supports the use of “gems” – third-party libraries that can be integrated to add functionalities to Rails applications. This extensive ecosystem of gems means that many features can be added without manual coding.

Rails encourages the creation of RESTful applications, which means that it aligns with the REST architecture, organizing application functionality around resources and standard HTTP methods.