<p>Scaffolding, what is it?  Is it a Rails-only thing?</p>

From
Wikipedia
:
Scaffolding is a meta-programming
  method of building database-backed
  software applications. It is a
  technique supported by some
  model-view-controller frameworks, in
  which the programmer may write a
  specification that describes how the
  application database may be used. The
  compiler uses this specification to
  generate code that the application can
  use to create, read, update and delete
  database entries, effectively treating
  the template as a "scaffold" on which
  to build a more powerful application.