Not Invented Here: Things Rails Didn't Innovate

A presentation at Scottish Ruby Conf 2014 in in Perth, UK by Caleb Hearth

Rails is a mixture of design patterns, practices, and magic. In this talk, we’ll explore how Rails embraces ideas from other frameworks and projects.

Active Record was born of Martin Fowler. MVC was the brainchild of Trygve Reenskaug. Rails 3 completely absorbed the Merb project, gaining modularity and extensibility that it previously lacked.

We all learn by standing on the shoulders of giants, even Rails. By understanding the inception of design patterns, we are more likely to be able to create ideas of our own. This helps us to not only grow in our own ability, but to help others improve as well.