Ruby on Rails - or just "Rails" to friends - is like a well-oiled machine for web development. It is designed to make developers' lives easier by providing clear conventions, sensible defaults, and lots of built-in functionality. Instead of drowning in configuration files, you can focus on application logic and user experience.

What makes Rails special is the philosophy behind it: Convention over Configuration and Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY). In other words - follow the framework’s conventions and let Rails handle the heavy lifting. The result? You can build a full-featured web app in surprisingly little time, which has made Rails a favorite among startups and fast-moving development teams.

Rails also has a huge ecosystem with thousands of gems (plugins) that extend functionality from authentication to API support. And thanks to an active community, there is abundant documentation, guides, and help when you run into trouble. In short - Ruby on Rails is a framework that lets you build smart, fast, and elegant web applications.