The Art of Rails is a book about the design of modern web applications. This book identifies and describes the fundamental design strategies that have emerged for the New Web and demonstrates their application with Ruby on Rails-based examples. Discussion is kept technical but casual, and code examples serve to illustrate the point without causing the readers eyes to gloss over. The book accomplishes two important objectives: to teach good Rails programmers how to be great Rails designers, and to communicate to non-Rails developers the fundamental design strategies that constitute the Rails concept so that they may be employed a la carte to their own web development. The market and programming community is in great need of a book like this. The design patterns and methodologies outlined in the book represent the very latest in web design techniques, and a book that cleanly and enjoyably collects them will be a hit. The book uses the language of the Rails community, but does not have to be read as a book about Rails specifically. As such it both serves as an invaluable resource for Ruby on Rails developers and also a long-lasting guide to the principles of modern web design and development. The Art of Rails describes the latest step in the evolution of web application design. The Rails concept, as created by Ruby on Rails, is a completely new way of thinking about web development, including new abstractions, design methodologies, and programming techniques. Learning to think like a Rails designer will enable you to quickly design and write concise code with elegance and maintainability. This book also examines several of the latest techniques, including REST-based design, Ajax, and Web Services, in a way that acquaints you with deep understanding of the fundamental idea so that the mechanics of coding can fall into place.