In the last episode we added AJAX functionality to a paginated list of products. Instead of acting as normal HTML links, the paginated links had click events added to them via unobtrusive JavaScript so that when clicked they made an AJAX request that updated the main content of the page with a new page of products.
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Ruby on Rails is a framework for Ruby that has became increasingly popular over the last few years. The difference between a framework and a language is a language is used for compiling code whereas a framework is built on top of a language to allow for a more rapid development process.
Ruby on Rails uses the MVC (Model-View-Controller) pattern to keep code clean and organized. CakePHP is a great framework for PHP that replicates how Ruby on Rails works, the only difference being is it uses PHP and not Ruby so the code looks a lot different although some of the functions are named the same.
When learning a new language it is always best to give it your full attention for at least a week or two, because you will probably end up back where you started and not learning much more than you already knew. When using a language, frameworks, API's, etc, it is also recommended to refer to the documentation from time to time so that if you run into a bug it is more stress-free to solve.
If you are running Mac OS X then both Ruby and Rails are pre-installed. Windows and Linux users will have to download them.
This is my screencast for the Nettuts/Screenr screencast competition. I feel as though I rushed it because I had to do it under 5 minutes but I hope you learn a thing or two from it.
