Publisher's Synopsis
Rails is a framework written in Ruby that helps you build web applications. There are a lot of concepts packed into that one sentence that may be new to you, but don't worry, we'll get you feeling cozy.Ruby is a programming language. While there are many others (e.g. Python and Java) and they can mostly accomplish the same tasks, Ruby is a particularly readable and fun one, so you've made a good choice. If we were building a house, Ruby would be the raw materials: plywood, nails, etc. Rails is a framework written in (and for) Ruby - think of this as the frame for the house. It gives you certain parameters to work within, but you have a lot of flexibility about how the final product turns out. Just like the frame is built from the same raw materials that will be used to fill in the details of the house, Rails is written in Ruby, and you will add all of your application-specific features using Ruby (and HTML, and CSS, etc.).Through your instructions in Ruby, Rails will take information stored in a database and send HTML to be displayed to the user in a browser. Let's get going!
