Rails as a Web Application Framework

Ruby on Rails is one of the most popular tools to build web applications, which is a huge class of software. In this chapter, we will talk about what makes this class different from other programs. First, we will learn about the HTTP request-response model and how it can naturally lead to a layered architecture. We will see which layers and HTTP components Ruby on Rails includes out of the box. Then, we will discuss the off-request processing layer, background jobs, and the persistence layer (databases).

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• The journey of a click through Rails abstraction layers
• Beyond requests – background and scheduled tasks
• The heart of a web application – the database

By the end of this chapter, you’ll have a better understanding of the core web application principles and how they affect Rails application design. You will learn about the main Rails components and how they build up the basic abstraction layers of the application.

These fundamental ideas will help you to identify and extract abstractions that better fit natural web application flows, thus leading to less conceptual overhead and a better developer experience.