Ruby on Rails Technology Intelligence

What is Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails (Rails) is a full-stack web application framework written in Ruby. Created by David Heinemeier Hansson in 2004, Rails pioneered the "convention over configuration" philosophy and model-view-controller (MVC) architecture for web development, influencing countless frameworks that followed.

Rails enables rapid application development with its opinionated defaults and "don't repeat yourself" (DRY) principles. Features like Active Record (ORM), Action Controller, and Action View provide integrated solutions for database, routing, and templating out of the box.

Major companies using Rails include GitHub, Shopify, Airbnb, Basecamp, and Twitch. Rails 7 introduced Hotwire for building reactive applications without heavy JavaScript frameworks. The framework continues to evolve with modern features while maintaining its focus on programmer happiness.

Rails Architecture

MVC Pattern: Model (Active Record), View (Action View), Controller (Action Controller). Clear separation of concerns. Organized file structure. Convention-based naming.

Active Record: Object-relational mapping (ORM). Database tables as Ruby classes. Migrations for schema changes. Associations and validations built-in.

Routing: RESTful routes by convention. Resource-based URL patterns. Named routes for path helpers. Constraints and namespaces.

Asset Pipeline: JavaScript and CSS compilation. Sprockets or Webpacker/ESBuild. Fingerprinting for caching. Import maps in Rails 7.

Action Mailer: Email sending framework. Templates for emails. Previews for development. Background job integration.

Hotwire: Turbo for SPA-like navigation. Stimulus for JavaScript sprinkles. Server-rendered HTML. Minimal JavaScript approach.

Rails Use Cases

SaaS Products: Multi-tenant applications. Subscription billing. User authentication. Admin dashboards.

E-commerce: Spree and Solidus platforms. Custom stores. Inventory management. Order processing.

Social Platforms: User-generated content. Activity feeds. Messaging systems. Follower/following relationships.

Marketplaces: Two-sided platforms. Seller and buyer interfaces. Payment processing. Review systems.

API Backends: RESTful API development. GraphQL with graphql-ruby. Mobile app backends. Microservices.

MVPs & Startups: Rapid prototyping. Quick iteration. Scaffolding generators. Investor demos.

Rails Code Examples

Model, Controller, and Routes

# app/models/article.rb
class Article < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :author, class_name: 'User'
  has_many :comments, dependent: :destroy
  has_many :taggings
  has_many :tags, through: :taggings

  validates :title, presence: true, length: { minimum: 5 }
  validates :body, presence: true

  scope :published, -> { where(published: true) }
  scope :recent, -> { order(created_at: :desc).limit(10) }
end

# app/controllers/articles_controller.rb
class ArticlesController < ApplicationController
  before_action :authenticate_user!, except: [:index, :show]
  before_action :set_article, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]

  def index
    @articles = Article.published.recent.includes(:author, :tags)
  end

  def create
    @article = current_user.articles.build(article_params)
    if @article.save
      redirect_to @article, notice: 'Article created.'
    else
      render :new, status: :unprocessable_entity
    end
  end

  private
  def article_params
    params.require(:article).permit(:title, :body, :published, tag_ids: [])
  end
end

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
  resources :articles do
    resources :comments, only: [:create, :destroy]
  end
end

Rails Benefits

Rapid Development: Generators scaffold entire features. Convention over configuration. Less boilerplate code. Ship features fast.

Full Stack: Everything included out of box. Database, routing, views, mailers. No piecing together libraries. Integrated solutions.

Developer Happiness: Elegant, readable Ruby syntax. Well-designed APIs. Consistent patterns. Enjoyable to write.

Mature Ecosystem: RubyGems with battle-tested libraries. Devise for authentication. Active Admin. Sidekiq for background jobs.

Testing Culture: RSpec and Minitest integration. Factory Bot for fixtures. Capybara for integration tests. TDD/BDD standard practice.

Community: Strong, welcoming community. Extensive documentation. Rails Guides. Active development.

Proven Scale: GitHub, Shopify, Basecamp run on Rails. Scales with proper architecture. Proven enterprise readiness.