A useful introduction to Ruby on Rails and basic framework concepts
I’m not going to comment on relative pros or cons of Ruby and Rails, because I’ve never used it - I’ll leave that for others to debate. My experience so far of building data-driven websites is based on a degree of self-taught PHP/MySQL knowledge. My understanding of OOP is limited and I’ve never used a “framework.”
That said, I’ve found this article: Ruby on Rails for the Rest of Us quite enlightening. It offers a well written, unbiased intro to what Ruby and Rails are, their history and some good explanations of what certain concepts like framework, model-view-controller and scaffolding actually mean. It also discusses advantages of using these methods.
Now, I’m no hardcore programmer but I think I’m a pretty intelligent chap. I’ve built some complex projects (in my opinion) in Director, Flash, PHP etc. If I struggle to find a credible, concise introduction to a subject that I can understand without downloading the Matrix into my brain, then something is seriously lacking. Which makes this particular article very welcome.
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December 5th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Glad you’re getting an introduction to frameworks.
If there is an interest there, but just no decent simple articles, then perhaps I should write you one or two
December 5th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
It’s not simple articles per se: I think that if an article or tutorial claims to be an introduction to a subject then it should presume no prior knowledge. That is supposed to be the purpose of an *introduction*, no?
I read about “frameworks this, frameworks that blah cake yadda spring wibble rails” all over the place but this is the first decent explanation for what a framework IS in in principle that I’ve found.
As usual, it’s an easy concept to grasp. It’s *made* difficult by the failure of those who do understand to communicate.