Applie included Ruby with the Jaguar OS. In this article, Jim explains how to use this pure object oriented scripting language by exploring Ruby's features.

Ruby on Rails is Model-View-Controller web-application framework. Rails uses ActiveRecord database abstraction classes to work with SQL tables. However, sometimes it is more convenient to work with plain SQL queries(without any model classes) for specific database operations.

Ruby on Rails is Model-View-Controller web-application framework. Rails uses ActiveRecord database abstraction classes to work with SQL tables. However, sometimes it is more convenient to work with plain SQL queries(without any model classes) for specific database operations.

Because Rails is a young framework, I thought it would be helpful to write up what I consider best practices when coding with it both for my new coworkers and the web at large. Here’s my current draft. Feel free to critique and comment. I’m very open to suggestions.

Because Rails is a young framework, I thought it would be helpful to write up what I consider best practices when coding with it both for my new coworkers and the web at large. Here’s my current draft. Feel free to critique and comment. I’m very open to suggestions.

IBM DeveloperWorks has a helpful howto on how to bring the worlds of Ruby on Rails and your DB2 framework together. From the article: 'Because Rails emerged from the open source world, until recently you had to use MySQL or PostgreSQL to work with it. Now that IBM has released a DB2 adapter for Rails, it's possible to write efficient Web applications on top of your existing DB2 database investment.'

IBM DeveloperWorks has a helpful howto on how to bring the worlds of Ruby on Rails and your DB2 framework together. From the article: 'Because Rails emerged from the open source world, until recently you had to use MySQL or PostgreSQL to work with it. Now that IBM has released a DB2 adapter for Rails, it's possible to write efficient Web applications on top of your existing DB2 database investment.'

This article is not intended to be a booster piece for Rails nor is it an expose. It’s simply an introduction to the technology. It contains both praise and criticism. At times the criticism might appear a bit heavy handed (especially to Rails enthusiasts), but don’t be fooled. Using any Web application framework is going to be tricky, whether it’s J2EE, ASP.NET, or PHP. In the long run, you can be a lot more productive with Rails than you can be with many other Web application development platforms, but it takes time to learn the ropes.

This article is not intended to be a booster piece for Rails nor is it an expose. It’s simply an introduction to the technology. It contains both praise and criticism. At times the criticism might appear a bit heavy handed (especially to Rails enthusiasts), but don’t be fooled. Using any Web application framework is going to be tricky, whether it’s J2EE, ASP.NET, or PHP. In the long run, you can be a lot more productive with Rails than you can be with many other Web application development platforms, but it takes time to learn the ropes.

Here's a quick Howto on setting up Ruby on Rails for Windows.