Ruby on Rails® for Microsoft Developers

2.1. Misconceptions about Rails

When a new technology hits the spotlight, a lot people start talking about it. It's a given that not all of them are going to be fully aware of the subject, and new myths and misconceptions will inevitably spring forth. With Rails' exponential success and big promises of easier Web development, this phenomenon is particularly accelerated. In the past four years, all sorts of misinformed comments about Rails have popped up. The next few sections focus on some of the most common ones, but also on those that are very much worth clarifying from the get-go.

2.1.1. You Don't Have to Be a Programmer

Rails developers are often enthusiastic about their framework of choice. The fact that they like to stress how easy and productive Rails is, is very understandable given that programming in Rails is a joy and probably considered (by these developers) much easier and better than anything else they've tried before. In truth, to initially get started with Rails you don't really need to be an expert on how the Web works, nor proficient in SQL, HTML, or JavaScript. Rails takes care of a lot of small details for you.

The notion that you don't have to be a programmer to write Web applications with Rails, however, is false. All but the most trivial applications require a good dose of programming skills and design choices.

When you create a Rails application, one of the first tasks is to define the database structure. You'll have several tools that can help you with ...