Explain like I only speak in plain English

Ruby on Rails is a web application framework built using the programming language Ruby. It is very popular amongst early stage startups with small teams as you can create a working website very quickly.

The key difference between Ruby on Rails and other web frameworks is its convention over configuration philosophy. In Ruby on Rails, much of the mundane decisions are already made for you by ways of convention. So programmers can focus on things that actually matter.

Explain like I'm a total nerd

Ruby on Rails was created by David Heinemeier Hansson "DHH" while he was working on a project management service called Basecamp.

DHH saw the value Ruby on Rails could provide to other web application engineers and decided to release it as an open source project in 2004. Ruby on Rails is a model-view-controller "MVC" framework.

The latest Ruby on Rails release, Rails 5.1, supports JavaScript file compilation using Webpack. It even has generators for creating a basic application with ReactJs, AngulaJs, or VueJs.

You can read The Rails Doctrine written by DHH which explains reason behind the design principles. Here is the official Documentation and GitHub repo.

Explain like I'm an artist

Ruby on Rails is a web framework with lots of conventions. It is like a fill in the color drawing compared to other web frameworks which allows you to draw the whole picture from scratch.

Explain like I already know it

The great thing about convention over configuration frameworks such as Ruby on Rails is that moving from one project to another is much easier. A new Ruby on Rails developer coming into an existing Ruby on Rails project can start development almost immediately because almost all Ruby on Rails projects have the same structure.

Ruby

Ruby is a general purpose programming language that you can use to write all sorts of programs. It is the base language of the popular web applications framework called Ruby on Rails.

Application Programming Interface (API)

Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface that programmers can use to interact with a software system. For example, Bob is a waiter at a restaurant. He relays your order to the kitchen, and Bob brings the food back to you. The kitchen is the software system, and Bob is the API.

RubyGems

RubyGems is a package manager for Ruby libraries. RubyGems is used to deal with installation, removal, updates of Ruby libraries. RubyGems libraries are called Gems for short.

Bundler

Bundler ensures a Ruby project is run in the same condition on different machines consistently. It does this by keeping track of a list of Gems and their versions required for a project to run correctly.

Cookies

Cookies are small data that are stored on a web browser to help websites keep track of your log in status, items in your active shopping cart, whether you are in dark mode, etc.

Database

A database is a collection of data organized for fast access and easy query. An example would be a database of the rental records of all the books in all public libraries so you can find the libraries that have your book available.

Framework

In programming, a framework is a standard for building applications. Frameworks deal with low level details so engineers can focus on high level problems that actually matter. Frameworks can significantly reduce development time.