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Ask HN: What are the best resources for learning Ruby/Rails

15 points by d_mcgraw 16y ago

I'm looking to teach myself a new Web Dev language and have landed on Ruby/Rails. What are the best resources out there for learning Ruby/Rails if you are already a programmer with web experience?

pritzker221 16y ago
Not sure why you'd want to learn Ruby/Rails. Ruby has been dropping in use for a few years now, and it looks like that downward trend will accelerate. Have you considered Python/Django?
- carbon8 16y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1459119 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1459119
- d_mcgraw 16y ago
  Is that really true? Most of the companies I've talked to are looking for people with Ruby/Rails experience. I've seen some looking for Python Django experience, but far less. I currently do Python dev at work. I've looked a Django, but I wasn't super impressed, but again maybe I'm just not finding the right resources for learning to work with it. Any suggestions there?
- Construct 16y ago
  What is your source? Indeed.com shows no such drop in Rails job offers. Both Rails and Django are showing growth in the percentage of job offers: http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=rails,+django&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=rails,+django&l= If you fall back to a language-only search, then Python shows a bigger slice of the pie, but the original question was about web frameworks. http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=python,+ruby&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=python,+ruby&l=
Construct 16y ago
Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial is a good start (look closely, there is free access online): http://railstutorial.org/ http://railstutorial.org/ It's not perfect, but it does walk you through the process of setting up a proper environment, using git for version control, and pushing to Heroku for rapid deployment. He even explains different basics and features of the Ruby language, so you can start here without learning Ruby if you so desire. Definitely complete the additional tasks at the end of each chapter as they are very helpful. Also, I found it helpful to browse through the many open-source Rails projects you can find online, particularly on github.
poloniculmov 16y ago
If you'd like to learn from a book, Agile Web Development with Rails is nice. http://pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with-rails-third-edition http://pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with...
- csmeder 16y ago
  This book isn't coming out until late 2010, is it worth waiting or buy the 3rd edition available now?
  - mattm 16y ago
    You can buy the ebook now. I have it and it's great so far (2/3rds of the way done)
kellishaver 16y ago
I highly recommend http://railscasts.com http://railscasts.com if you haven't found it already. Great stuff ranging from beginner to pretty advanced.
carbon8 16y ago
Here's my big list from a few months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1088737 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1088737 Also, although I've only skimmed mhartl's book, it looks great and has already been updated for Rails 3: http://railstutorial.org/book http://railstutorial.org/book And for the edge rails guides (Rails 3): http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/ http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/

15 points by d_mcgraw 16y ago

I'm looking to teach myself a new Web Dev language and have landed on Ruby/Rails. What are the best resources out there for learning Ruby/Rails if you are already a programmer with web experience?

pritzker221 16y ago

Not sure why you'd want to learn Ruby/Rails. Ruby has been dropping in use for a few years now, and it looks like that downward trend will accelerate. Have you considered Python/Django?

carbon8 16y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1459119 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1459119
d_mcgraw 16y ago
Is that really true? Most of the companies I've talked to are looking for people with Ruby/Rails experience. I've seen some looking for Python Django experience, but far less. I currently do Python dev at work. I've looked a Django, but I wasn't super impressed, but again maybe I'm just not finding the right resources for learning to work with it. Any suggestions there?
Construct 16y ago
What is your source? Indeed.com shows no such drop in Rails job offers. Both Rails and Django are showing growth in the percentage of job offers: http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=rails,+django&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=rails,+django&l= If you fall back to a language-only search, then Python shows a bigger slice of the pie, but the original question was about web frameworks. http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=python,+ruby&l= http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=python,+ruby&l=

Construct 16y ago

Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial is a good start (look closely, there is free access online): http://railstutorial.org/ http://railstutorial.org/ It's not perfect, but it does walk you through the process of setting up a proper environment, using git for version control, and pushing to Heroku for rapid deployment. He even explains different basics and features of the Ruby language, so you can start here without learning Ruby if you so desire. Definitely complete the additional tasks at the end of each chapter as they are very helpful. Also, I found it helpful to browse through the many open-source Rails projects you can find online, particularly on github.

poloniculmov 16y ago

If you'd like to learn from a book, Agile Web Development with Rails is nice. http://pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with-rails-third-edition http://pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with...

csmeder 16y ago
This book isn't coming out until late 2010, is it worth waiting or buy the 3rd edition available now?
- mattm 16y ago
  You can buy the ebook now. I have it and it's great so far (2/3rds of the way done)

kellishaver 16y ago

I highly recommend http://railscasts.com http://railscasts.com if you haven't found it already. Great stuff ranging from beginner to pretty advanced.

carbon8 16y ago

Here's my big list from a few months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1088737 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1088737 Also, although I've only skimmed mhartl's book, it looks great and has already been updated for Rails 3: http://railstutorial.org/book http://railstutorial.org/book And for the edge rails guides (Rails 3): http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/ http://edgeguides.rubyonrails.org/