{"id":13122,"date":"2025-03-06T20:52:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T17:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/?p=13122"},"modified":"2025-03-06T20:52:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T17:52:44","slug":"ruby-on-rails-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/railsware.com\/blog\/ruby-on-rails-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need to Know about Ruby on Rails Web Application Framework"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ruby on Rails, frequently referred to as just Rails or RoR, is a popular open-source framework. While it’s not the youngest kid on the block (it turned 19 in 2022), it\u2019s still among the top choices for web application developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rails has done more for startups than a whole boatload of Venture Capitalists. Rails has had an incredible impact on the startup ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Eric Ries, founder of Lean Startup Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It is frequently ranked as one of the top backend frameworks for the web<\/a>. It\u2019s used by some of the world\u2019s biggest brands, such as Airbnb and Shopify. With good reason, RoR has also been built into macOS for many years. And there\u2019s a vibrant, ever-growing community around Rails. Thousands of user-built gems make development a breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like it or not, Ruby on Rails is here to stay. But what is it really about? Is it the right choice in 2023, whether you want to quickly ship an MVP, build a full-fledged site, or migrate? Is it a good time to become an RoR developer? That\u2019s what we\u2019re here to discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Ruby on Rails?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ruby on Rails is a framework built on top of Ruby<\/strong>, a programming language created in the 90s. The idea behind RoR is straightforward \u2014 to give developers an intuitive framework to quickly develop robust, high-performing web pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ruby\u2019s original heresy was indeed to place the happiness of the programmer on a pedestal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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David Heinemeir Hanson, creator of RoR<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Rails delivered on the promise. It gives you the structure to build nearly any web application. It simplifies the creation process and gives you an abundance of tools to handle tasks for you. And all of these contribute to what RoR creator, David Heinemeier Hansson, frequently emphasized\u2014engineers\u2019 happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRuby\u2019s original heresy was indeed to place the happiness of the programmer on a pedestal. Above many other competing and valid concerns that had driven programming languages and ecosystems before it.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this wasn\u2019t just a marketing slogan. From the beginning, Ruby on Rails has been heavily focused on giving developers a clean, fun-to-use framework that is powerful<\/strong> and truly different from anything else. The community that grew around it and the abundance of resources they created only helped bolster the growth of RoR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Hansson put it in the Rails Doctrine<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Where Python might boast that there\u2019s ‘one, and preferably only one, way to do something,’ Ruby relished expressiveness and subtlety. Where Java championed forcefully protecting programmers from themselves, Ruby included a set of sharp knives in the welcome kit. Where Smalltalk drilled a purity of message passing, Ruby accumulated keywords and constructs with an almost gluttonous appetite.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire piece gives a much deeper insight into the underlying concept of Rails. We highly recommend giving it a read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principles of RoR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ruby on Rails is known as an MVC (model-view-controller) full-stack framework. The code is separated into three interconnected layers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Model<\/strong> contains the logic of an application, all the essential data, and high-level classes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • View<\/strong> is the UI representation of the data present in Modal. It\u2019s what users interact with and see on their screens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Controller<\/strong> connects Model and View, receives user input, and decides how to handle the input.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    To give you an example, let\u2019s assume we\u2019re building an app – an atlas of rare birds. The model<\/strong> is responsible for defining, for instance, how bird categories are defined and what data each listing contains. The view<\/strong> specifies how each screen of the app is rendered to users and what happens after each UI interaction. Finally, the controller<\/strong> receives each user\u2019s input (for example, a search query), requests the needed data from the model<\/strong>, and tells the view<\/strong> how to display it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ruby on Rails centers around two main principles, also known from other programming frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • Do Not Repeat Yourself (DRY)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This first principle states: \u201cEvery piece of knowledge or logic must have a single, unambiguous representation within a system.\u201d<\/em> The logic behind it is straightforward. Coding the same things repeatedly, in different parts of an application, clutters the codebase, slows down development, and makes maintenance a lot harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      When developing in RoR, you split the application\u2019s logic into smaller, reusable units. You then reuse them throughout the code by simply calling them. When you need to update either piece, you update once, and the change applies across the entire codebase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      • Convention over Configuration (CoC)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        This second principle is also about simplifying development and cutting down on time needed to ship the code. Convention over Configuration means that the RoR assumes various logical situations for you, by using the underlying, native functions, classes, variables and procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        In this way, it decreases the number of decisions you make, and cuts down on the complexity usually associated with configuring each application area. And if you\u2019re unhappy with the default settings, you can overwrite them with your code and adjust the environment to your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        One self-evident example of a convention used in Rails is naming. Models we mentioned earlier are always named with a singular proper noun describing the object they represent: \u2018user\u2019, \u2018portfolio,\u2019 \u2018project\u2019. By default, Rails will name the corresponding tables with the plural versions of the modals and, to continue the example, a \u2018users\u2019 table will be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        It might not seem like a significant simplification, but if you were to name hundreds of tables with meaningful words manually, you would right away appreciate the convenience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n