If you're like a lot of web developers, you've probably considere kicking the tires on Rails - the framework of choice for the ne generation of Web 2.0 developers. Ruby on Rails: Up and Running from O'Reilly takes you out for a test drive and shows you just how fas Ruby on Rails can go.

This compact guide teaches you the basics of installing and using both the Ruby scripting language and the Rails framework for the quick development of web applications. Ruby on Rails: Up and Running covers just about everything you need - from making a simple database-backed application to adding elaborate Ajaxian features and all the juicy bits in between.

While Rails is praised for its simplicity and speed of development, there are still a few steps to master on the way. More advanced material helps you map data to an imperfect table, traverse complex relationships, and build custom finders. A section on working with Ajax and REST shows you how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, implement web services, and create dynamic user-centric web
pages. The book also explains the essentials of logging to find performance problems and delves into other performance optimizing techniques.

The Ruby on Rails phenomenon is sweeping through our industry with reckless disregard for established programming languages, longstanding conventions, or commercial support. You can get a whole lot of information on Ruby on Rails from articles on the Web, excellent books, and even formal coursework. However, there's something missing. How does an established programmer, armed with nothing more than a little Ruby knowledge, go just beyond the basics, and be productive in Rails?

With Ruby on Rails: Up and Running, we are not going to reiterate the reference manual or replace Google. Instead, we'll strive to give you the big picture of how Rails applications hold together and tell you where to go for the information that we don't cover in the chapters. You will see how Rails dynamically adds features to all database models, called Active Record objects. By understanding the big picture, you'll be able to make better use of the best reference manuals to fill in the details.

We won't try to make you digest a whole lot of words. Instead, we'll give you the theory in the context of an end-to-end application. We'll walk you through the creation of a simple projectone that is a little more demanding than a blog or shopping cart, but with a simple enough structure that a Rails beginner will be able to quickly understand what's going on.

We're not going to try to cover each new feature. Instead, we'll show you the ones we see as the backbone, forming the most important elements to understand. We will also cover migrations and Ajax in some detail, because you won't find too much information on those two frameworks yet.

In short, we're not trying to build a comprehensive Rails library. We're going to give you the foundation you need to get up and running.