Due to its clear syntax, Ruby rails development has become the most preferred open-source platform for dynamic web-app development. Ruby on Rails is also shortened simply as ‘Rails’. It uses MVC architecture for which it delivers faster development and high performing web applications.

1. What’s new in Rails 4.0 Beta 1?
Release of the Ruby 2.0 version also came with the first beta version of Rails 4.0. Ruby 2.0 is also
the preferred Ruby to use with Rails 4.0. This beta release was intended to compel developers to
upgrade from Rails 3.2 and earlier to Rails 4.0 which comes with numerous new features. The prime
focus of the release was to make development simple and easy. It is featured to develop web
applications that are fast and to eliminate the need to go to client-side JS/JSON server.
Here are some features:
Easy Russian Doll-caching through key-based expiration with automatic dependency
management of nested templates.
Turbolinks Speeds-up the client-side, which turns the app into a single-page JavaScript
application in terms of speed, but without any developmental drawbacks.
Declarative Etag makes it even easier to ensure taking advantage of HTTP.
Although Rails offers an excellent JSON server for the Ruby on rails developers, but by using Rails 4.0,
they won't need to go down that route to have a fast application. They have also added live streaming
for continual connections and Rails 4.0 is safe for threaded servers. Active Record has received some
improvements to make scoping and the query structure more consistent.
Here are some major updates:
Session store is encrypted by default.
Strong Parameters take over from attr_protected plugin to guard
against foreign parameters.
Security headers like X-Frame-Options, X-XSS-Protection, X-Content-Type-Options are on by
default with solid values.
XML Parameter parsing has been sent to a plugin.

2. Other than these new features and fixes, it has been
streamlined and simplified for the developers. They have
also removed some old APIs. Active Resource, Active
Record Observers, Action Pack page and action caching
have been removed and made as plugins. All the
improvements in Rails 4.0 has been documented in the
changelog. So the developers are advisable to read the
changelog to get detailed information. Most
improvements are made in Action Pack, Active Model,
Active Record, and Active Support. Another notable
change in rails 4 is that it has dropped ruby 1.8.7 support
and the minimum ruby version requirement is 1.9.3. The vendor/plugins directory has been removed.
ActiveResource is an ORM for REST-based web services; it has been removed from Rails4. Page and
Action caching facilities have being removed in Rails 4 instead; ‘Russian Doll caching’ strategies has been
introduced. Hence the need for ActiveRecord Observers is now almost redundant. The default setup and
naming of test locations has been altered. “Models” corresponded to “units”, “controllers” to
“functional” tests, and so on. The default test locations will be little closer to rspec’s naming conventions
for Rails tests.
Rails 4.0 beta release could bring new possibilities to Ruby rails development. It is specifically featured
to make the development process easier and manageable. It’s not that it is without flaws but those are
yet to come.