Rails 1.0 is out!

For those of you who have to write web applications, and don't know about Ruby on Rails, you're missing out on a lot.

Rails is a web development framework that uses the Ruby programming language. Its claim to fame is that once you learn the Rails "conventions," you can write a fully functional web application in very little time. The conventions they're talking about center mostly on how to name variables and how to structure your SQL tables so that the framework does most of the work for you.

It helps if you've had some Object Oriented programming experience, but if you haven't there are some good tutorials for how to get started with Ruby and Rails on the web site. In fact, the first edition of the canonical Ruby text (know as the Pick-Axe Book) is available for free on the web. The second edition is available in a non-DRM'ed .pdf format from the publisher for $25... About half the cost of the printed version. There is also a Rails specific book available from the same publisher, "Agile Web Development with Rails."

I bought both of them, and they're quite good.

Rails version 1.0 was released on Tuesday. It is available at www.rubyonrails.org