# Ruby on Rails : Origin of the name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [December 13, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074 "2007-12-13T20:56:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/1 "2007-12-13T20:56:56Z")
Where did the name “Ruby on Rails” come from? Thanks, Stephan ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/2 "2007-12-13T21:12:04Z")
Stephan W. wrote: > Where did the name “Ruby on Rails” come from? > > Thanks, > > Stephan In the beginning there were computers and the people were happy The users noted that these computers couldn’t talk to other computers and they were sad The network was thusly created and the people were happy The frameworks that were initially developed were quite primitive and the people were sad Bigger frameworks were developed that allowed greater user experience and productivity and the people were happy As these frameworks grew bigger, and the complexity rose, developers were given an increasing array of configuration options, development strategies, financial advice, cosmic tea and other such things in which to develop their particular applications which only lead to big slow downs in things getting out the door and the people were sad Along came 37Signals and DHH and he dictated that “convention over configuration” shall be the new law, “Each of you will now develop my way as if you were on rails” which greatly simplified web application development and the people were happy… hth… ilan ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/3 "2007-12-13T21:48:05Z")
Ilan B. wrote: > Along came 37Signals and DHH and he dictated that “convention over > configuration” shall be the new law, “Each of you will now develop my > way as if you were on rails” which greatly simplified web application > development and the people were happy… > > hth… I don’t see how this helps … Stephan ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/4 "2007-12-13T22:16:39Z")
I think the point is that Rails is constraining (which is a good thing). ///ark ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/5 "2007-12-14T00:10:13Z")
Phillip K. wrote: > On Dec 13, 2007, at 2:48 PM, Stephan W. wrote: > > > I don’t see how this helps … > > > > Stephan > > If you consider a train on rails, the train goes where the rails take > it. Ruby On Rails is the Ruby language on the “rails” that DHH > dreamed up. As the saying goes, RoR is very opinionated software. > You can do _some_ things in a way that DHH and crew don’t like, but > they will make it hard for you. If you follow the Rails, all goes well. Thanks! Is there a reference for this? First usage … ? Stephan > Peace, > Phillip ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/6 "2007-12-13T23:37:12Z")
On Dec 13, 2007, at 2:48 PM, Stephan W. wrote: > I don’t see how this helps … > > Stephan If you consider a train on rails, the train goes where the rails take it. Ruby On Rails is the Ruby language on the “rails” that DHH dreamed up. As the saying goes, RoR is very opinionated software. You can do _some_ things in a way that DHH and crew don’t like, but they will make it hard for you. If you follow the Rails, all goes well. Peace, Phillip ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/7 "2007-12-14T01:31:00Z")
Is there a reference to where you got the name “Stephan W.?” First useage? Sorry, couldn’t resist. 🙂 Have fun riding the rails. On Dec 13, 6:10 pm, Stephan W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 1:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/8 "2007-12-14T01:57:59Z")
Davi wrote: > Em Qui 13 Dez 2007, Stephan W. escreveu: > […] > > > Is there a reference for this? First usage … ? > > Have you tried Wikipedia? Yes, there are hints about Struts in the discussion page. “…, but Rails was almost certainly named in homage to Struts …” The discussion page also has the same question directly, “How about some info on how it got to be called Ruby on Rails?” but there is no answer. Stephan Ref. > **[Ruby on Rails](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_on_Rails)** > > Ruby on Rails (simplified as Rails) is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Rails is a model–view–controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages. It encourages and facilitates the use of web standards such as JSON or XML for data transfer and HTML, CSS and JavaScript for user interfacing. In addition to MVC, Rails emphasizes the use of other well-known software engineering patterns and paradigms, in... > **[Talk:Ruby on Rails](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Ruby_on_Rails)** > > Developers researching new web application development frameworks need to judge the maturity and stability of the platform. In order to better facilitate this judgement I am adding a rails in production section to the rails wiki page. This page will list extremely popular websites that use the ruby on rails development framework in production environments. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.2.161.85 (talk) 05:38, 3 September 2009 (UTC)Reply\[reply\] > Significance - Almost all of the asserti... ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/9 "2007-12-14T02:03:47Z")
From that line of thinking, it all becomes so clear. Rails gets you places, while Struts just hold you up. On Dec 13, 7:57 pm, Stephan W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/10 "2007-12-14T02:04:23Z")
Em Qui 13 Dez 2007, Stephan W. escreveu: > “…, but Rails was almost certainly named in homage to Struts …” > > The discussion page also has the same question directly, > “How about some info on how it got to be called Ruby on Rails?” > > but there is no answer. Phillip’s answers seems fine for me… First usage was from 37Signals? ## HTH, ## Davi V. E-mail: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid MSN : removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid GTalk : removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Skype : davi vidal ICQ : 138815296 ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/11 "2007-12-14T02:23:05Z")
i guess the guys at 37signals kept asking david how he was getting along with this widely unknown japanese scripting language that he had decided to write their next web application in, and one day he answered with a smile: “i put it (ruby) on rails”. 😉 On Dec 13, 8:56 pm, Stephan W. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) ---
**Author:** ![stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@stephanwehner](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stephanwehner)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-on-rails-origin-of-the-name/123074/12 "2007-12-14T01:42:42Z")
Em Qui 13 Dez 2007, Stephan W. escreveu: […] > Is there a reference for this? First usage … ? Have you tried Wikipedia? ## HTH, ## Davi V. E-mail: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid MSN : removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid GTalk : removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Skype : davi vidal ICQ : 138815296