The beta of the third, and restructured, edition of Ruby on Rails has been delivered.

Rails founder David Heinemeier blogged that Ruby on Rails 3.0 "feels lighter, more agile, and easier to understand" in spite of the changes.

This update is the result of almost 4,000 commits by more than 250 code authors. Completed code is planned for the current calendar quarter.

Heinemeier called the release of the beta a "great day to be a Rails developer".

Ruby on Rails 3 has been integrated with the Merb model-view controller framework, which uses a system of plug-ins to deliver specific features.

Additional features include improved support for JavaScript through drivers for Prototype and jQuery, and a simplified routing API to improve support for RESTful declarations.

According to the Ruby on Rails 3 release notes, you can move your existing application to Rails 3 without immediately rewriting all your old code to the latest best practices.But you'll need to be on at least Ruby 1.8.7 to go to the latest version. ®

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