Ruby on Rails is a free web application framework that is intended to increase the speed and ease with which database-driven web sites can be created.  Ruby on Rails is an open-source Web application framework written in Ruby that closely follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture. This project, which is written in the Ruby programming language, is also known as Rails, or RoR.

The fundamental principles of Ruby on Rails are Convention over Configuration (CoC) and Don’t repeat yourself (DRY).

“Convention over Configuration” means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application.

“Don’t repeat yourself” means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place.

The Rails programming conventions allow you to write fewer lines of code to implement your application. Small code allows for faster development and fewer glitches.  This makes the code easier to work with and to maintain. Rails can automatically create an entire set of CRUD (Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete) operations and views on any database table. This scaffolding gets you up and running quickly. Because Rails uses intelligent reflection to automatically map database tables to Ruby objects, your application code and running database will already contain everything Rails needs to know.

The use of Ruby on Rails is focused on simplicity and productivity; letting the computers do the work.   In a few short years, the usage of Ruby on Rails has grown rapidly.

Here are some prominent organizations that are using Ruby on Rails in the workplace:

Amazon.com
NASA
JP Morgan Chase
Yahoo
Oakley

Upon conducting my research I came across the actual email Linus sent to a Usenet Group back in 1991 announcing the kick off of his operating system:

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.F  (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Summary: small poll for my new operating system
Message-ID: <1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.Helsinki.FI
Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
Hello everybody out there using minix -

I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.  This has been brewing
since april, and is starting to get ready.  I’d like any feedback on
things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
(same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
among other things).

I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and
I’d like to know what features most people would want.  Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them

               Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi

PS.  Yes – it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have .

Linus uploaded the first version of Linux, version 0.01 in September of 1991. Then Linux belonged to the world.

As we say, the rest is history.

Are you interested in linux computer courses to further your knowledge? Do you know of a great place for new users to learn Linux? Share with us your ideas for other readers.

1. PHP
What is PHP? PHP is an open-source, server side html scripting language well suited for web developers as it can easily be embedded into standard html pages. You can run 100% dynamic pages or hybrid pages, 50% html + 50% php.
 
2. C#
C# is considered compiled, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft as part of it’s .NET initiative.  Since C# is an essential part of the .Net framework, learning this is like knowing Java under a different name. Especially useful if you heavily use Microsoft. 

3. AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
Technically AJAX is not a programming language, however it’s now proven critical in todays advanced interactive web applications. AJAX uses XHTML or HTML, Javascript and XML. If you’re wondering how AJAX became so popular, just look at Google Maps.

4. JavaScript
Javascript is an ojbect-oriented, scripting programming language that runs in your web browser. It runs on a simplified set of commands, easier to code and doesn’t require compiling. It’s an important language since it’s embedded into html that happens to to used in millions of web pages to validate forms, create cookies, detect browsers and improve page design and formatting. Big plus, it’s easy to learn and use.

5. Perl
Perl is an open-source, cross-platform, server-side interpretive programming language used extensively to process text through CGI programs. Perls power in processing of piles of text has made it very popular and widely used to write Web server programs for a range of tasks.

6. C
C is a standardized, general-purpose programming language. It’s one of the most pervasive languages and the basis for several others (such as C++). It’s important to learn C. Once you do, making the jump to Java or C# is fairly easy, because a lot of the syntax is common

7. Ruby and Ruby on Rails
Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented, open-source programming language; Ruby on Rails is an open-source Web application framework written in Ruby that closely follows the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture. With a focus on simplicity, productivity and letting the computers do the work, in a few years, its usage has spread quickly.

8. Java
Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. Why you should learn it: Hailed by many developers as a “beautiful” language, it is central to the non-.Net programming experience. Learning Java is critical if you are non-Microsoft.

9. Python
Python is an interpreted, dynamically object-oriented, open-source programming language that utilizes automatic memory management.
It is designed to be a highly readable, minimalist language. Python is used extensively by Google as well as in academia because of its syntactic simplicity.

10. VB.Net (Visual Basic .Net)
VB.Net is an object-oriented language implemented on Microsofts .Net framework. It is currently dominating in adoption and that is where all the work is these days.

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