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.
