I found Ruby itself a lot easier to learn than Rails, actually. Try doing some plain ol' Ruby learning instead. You know at least a little programming, so I'd

I found Ruby itself a lot easier to learn than Rails, actually. Try doing some plain ol' Ruby learning instead. You know at least a little programming, so I'd recommend starting with Everyday Scripting With Ruby rather than with Learning Ruby. I don't know much about the more recent editions of Agile Web Development With Rails, but I have a copy of the first edition. In it, Appendix A is Introduction to Ruby. That introduction is about useless to someone who doesn't know any programming, but provides an easy, quick familiarization with the basics of how Ruby (the language, as opposed to Rails the framework) works. If you have access to a copy of the book that has such an Introduction to Ruby appendix, combining that with Everyday Scripting With Ruby makes for a very effective start in the language for those who already dabble in programming. I'd recommend starting out on a Unix-like platform, and using Ruby to automate small tasks as a way to get used to using the language. While you're at it, learn the OptParse core library, which is great for adding command line option handling to your utilities, as well as help output. If you want to migrate from there to simple Web coding, you do not necessarily have to jump straight into Rails or any other framework. You can do CGI programming in Ruby, or you can use eruby to do template-based development much like the basic means of using PHP on most Webhosts. edit: Wow. Maybe I should write a book introducing people to Ruby.