Just have a small question especially I'm new to RoR and web programming. When we say that the application runs on a web server. Does that mean for example when I run my application at: http://localhost:3000, the web server is my local machine?
And, since a server is a bundle of HW + SW, what is the SW part of the server?
Is it only "Mongrel"?
Can you kindly explain what exactly is a web server?
Thanks.
Just have a small question especially I'm new to RoR and web programming. When we say that the application runs on a web server. Does that mean for example when I run my application at: http://localhost:3000, the web server is my local machine?
Yes.
And, since a server is a bundle of HW + SW, what is the SW part of the server?
Is it only "Mongrel"?
If that's what you have installed and are using, yes.
Can you kindly explain what exactly is a web server?
You could google 'what is a web server?' for some existing answers 
The web server simply looks at the information you submit ( a page for example) and routes it to the proper destination in rails. With me it's frequently error pages though.
Rails comes with a web server named webrick which works nicely enough for learning about Rails. Mongrel is a separate, higher performance web server that you can install via gem.
Keep plugging away at it with sample apps untill you feel confident enough to write something of your own.
And - don't stop asking questions
Bb Serviss wrote:
The web server simply looks at the information you submit ( a page for example) and routes it to the proper destination in rails. With me it's frequently error pages though.
Rails comes with a web server named webrick which works nicely enough for learning about Rails. Mongrel is a separate, higher performance web server that you can install via gem.
Keep plugging away at it with sample apps untill you feel confident enough to write something of your own.
And - don't stop asking questions
Bb Serviss,
Thanks so much. I appreciate your nice reply.