Working with Ruby on Rails doesn't begin when you start the Rails server, but rather much earlier — when a user enters a website address in their browser's address bar.

Before a request reaches the Rails application, it takes a long journey.

We begin our acquaintance with Ruby on Rails from the very beginning — from the user's first action: typing a website address or clicking a link.

Gradually, step by step, examining key technical and organizational stages, we'll approach working with the Rails application itself. First, we'll focus on organizational and configuration steps.

In the first lecture, we analyze how a request moves from the browser to the server. This knowledge prepares you to independently configure domain names and hosting and understand where, why, and what settings you need to implement for your project to work.

I'll explain what request interception points exist and what technical details help run local projects consisting of multiple components.

I'll also provide real practical examples where this knowledge and these skills proved useful.

---

In the first lecture, we traced the request path from the user's browser to the server, where our Ruby on Rails application runs.

At this stage, general-purpose web servers and the Rails application web server come into play. We'll explore several popular servers, understand their purposes, compare them, and learn why and when each one is used.

I'll also cover obtaining SSL certificates and configuring secure HTTPS connections for your website.

Finally, we'll familiarize ourselves with the key concepts of Rack and Middleware — the foundation through which all requests pass inside Rails.

---

After traveling through the network, the user's request reaches the server. After passing through the web server chain, it reaches the Rails application.

For the application to correctly process the request and work fully, it needs to initialize and start up correctly.

In this lecture, we'll thoroughly examine all stages of Rails application startup: step by step, file by file, we'll explore the process of initialization and configuration. This knowledge is especially important for solving complex tasks, as many of them are related to the moment of application loading and configuration — when you need to connect or activate specific functionality.

In this lecture, we'll learn about important entry points to the application, and examine the main files and directories involved in the initialization process.

After this lecture, you'll know all the main stages of Rails application startup and understand how its internal mechanism works.

Additionally, after reviewing the process and structure, we'll discuss the option of organizing a Rails application in a single file and learn when this approach can be useful.

---

Over the course of three previous lectures, we've familiarized ourselves with technical and organizational aspects of web application development, and specifically — Ruby on Rails. This information forms a solid foundation for understanding and working with most modern web projects.

By the fourth lecture, we're ready to move on to the Rails application itself and understand its principles of operation.

In this lecture, I provide a high-level overview of the Rails framework from the perspective of request processing — how Rails works "internally" and how it performs its work as a single sequential process.

I'll explain the characteristics of MVC pattern implementation in the framework and show that for complete understanding of Rails, simply knowing about MVC's existence isn't enough.

It's important to be able to see additional process stages and understand how exactly Rails works from the perspective of sequential action execution. This perception allows you to use the framework easily, efficiently, and consciously.

I'll show a practical example of solving a simple task, which involves all key framework elements. This will help you see Rails not as a set of tools, but as a coordinated system of actions.

We'll formulate a working process with Ruby on Rails — a list of main stages that a developer goes through when working with the framework.

Finally, we'll highlight the "Algorithm of Typical Developer Actions" — a practical model that will help you efficiently solve most tasks that Rails developers encounter.

---

This is an extensive practical lecture where we apply our knowledge about Rails application workflow and use the developer action algorithm to solve a real-world task.

Special emphasis is placed on using AI (Artificial Intelligence) when working with Ruby on Rails. I demonstrate how AI can assist in development, its behavioral characteristics, and why continuous control and correction of its output is important when receiving results.

During the lecture, I formulate a hypothetical technical task and step by step apply the Rails developer action algorithm to create a working application prototype.

We design a simple database schema, create models and migrations, configure relationships between models, add seed data, and work in the Rails console.

Once again, we view the Rails application as a process and observe how its conceptual stages find actual implementation in code.

As a result, we create a simple demonstration Rails application, whose source code is available to customers of the complete lecture program.

---