ActiveRecord is a level of abstraction that offers access to a SQL database. ActiveRecord implements the architectural pattern Active Record.
This is referred to as object-relational mapping (ORM) . I find it rather dry and boring, but if you have trouble going to sleep tonight, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_relational_mapping .
One of the recipes for the success of Rails is surely the fact that it uses ActiveRecord. The programming and use “feels Ruby-like,” and it is much ...