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As you should probably know by know, Ruby's already been around for a fair share of years; it started gaining massive popularity only after Rails was introduced, simply because it made Ruby even more powerful.
What Ruby on Rails allowed programmers was to build applications in a more effective and faster way that ever before.
Ruby on Rails started making history and I have no doubt it will be an amazing one, changing the web as we know it into something totally awesome and original.
If you surf the web a lot, like I do for example, you probably started noticing a rising trend in really pretty...and functional! websites such as Blinksale, BaseCamp or Campfire.What all of these have in common is Ruby..and company that created them, 37Signals.If you read my introductory article to Ruby, 37Signals is the key company that helped Ruby reach such a recognition level.
If you're in the web biz, you're also most likely heard of HaveaMint, the very cool site analytics program complete with an Ajax interface.
What's Ajax you ask? More of an acronym actually, it's not a new technology in itself or programming language or framework, but a set of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML combined techniques designed to give your website more sparks and pizazz in both looks and functionality.
Ajax and Rails have enabled a new generation of websites to come to life, the so called web 2.0 generation.Why named like that? Probably because it sounds really cool and generally a lot of these types of applications tend to be released in numbered versions, the most common suffix being "beta".
Ajax allows programmer to write applications that no longer need to reload the page to display new information, everything is done "backstage" and it's certainly a great new addition to the internet world in general.
Browsing ajax enabled websites is a pleasure and it just makes you think what other things can be accomplished without the need of using Flash for example.Of course, a Flash site would also allow you to load pages without reloading the whole browser page...but it's main inconvenient is the fact that users need to have the Flash plugin installed on their computer..plus there are the incompatibility issues that can arise with older versions.
Ajax eliminates all that, all you need is a capable,modern browser and nothing more.
Furthermore, beautifully styled CSS sites (like in the www.cssmania.com gallery), make the web 2.0 of today a much prettier and more interesting and useful place.
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