12 ms·

Learn Ruby

24 points by blacktm 13y ago

film42 13y ago
This is great, but there are already many sites that teach ruby through clean slides, animations and gamification. Most notably (with respect to ruby) is code school. I'm all for more resources, but I don't see how this is filling a market gap.
- Stranger2013 13y ago
  Ruby is a part of hipster culture. You can't just say "There is enough hipster bands out there, we don't need more" can you?
andreiursan 13y ago
Around minute 1:01, in the kickstarter video, he says that ruby is used by facebook o_O. I don't think that it is, is it?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jcoder 13y ago
  I'm sure it is somewhere. Lots of software behind Facebook.
- knowtheory 13y ago
  Remember that both Chef and Puppet are written in Ruby. Ruby is in a lot of things by virtue of the fact that it's so prevalent in the DevOps world.
  - andreiursan 13y ago
    Yes, I also used Chef. But I don't think that is enough reason to market a language as beeing a "FB" one. Because in that way you can market that 80% of the companies use ruby.
- bdcravens 13y ago
  Probably not their public facing website, but most companies run tons of code you'll never see. I've done ColdFusion since 1999, and while it's not a language the cool kids use, I've come across tons of large companies that use it for internal HR sites, internal content management, etc.
- kawsper 13y ago
  They do. See the comment on this answer on SO: http://stackoverflow.com/a/553455 http://stackoverflow.com/a/553455
  - bri3d 13y ago
    That guy isn't a Ruby developer -at- Facebook; he writes Facebook Platform apps in Ruby. With that being said I'm sure there's something in Ruby somewhere at Facebook - in an organization that size, there's room for a lot of best tools for the job. Plus, Ruby is big in the CM/operations/deployment world given the popularity of both Puppet and Chef.
melling 13y ago
There are lots of places to learn Ruby. At this point, you could Google just about any question that you had. How about something more ambitious? Anyone want to crowd fund a small satellite or lunar rover for the Google Lunar Prize? http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/ http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/
alpb 13y ago
I wouldn't pay $25 for this Kickstarter project. Codeacademy and Udemy has Ruby classes to grasp enough knowledge and cost less than this.
- bdcravens 13y ago
  I also have to give a +1 to CodeSchool.
locofacetwice 13y ago
9 times out of 10 people choose to learn Ruby for only one purpose - Ruby On Rails. This tutorial will not be too good for 9 out of 10 people.
programminggeek 13y ago
I wonder if this project will be as poignant as other ruby learning projects.
- swatkat 13y ago
  I think I see what you did there :) Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby: http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/ http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/
  - glitchdout 13y ago
    And don't forget his interactive course! http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby
eliben 13y ago
There used to be a time where people created programming tutorials just for the heck of it: to learn the language better themselves, to do something good, to get some rep, to make a name for themselves. I wrote quite a few myself - enjoyed every minute of it - both the process of writing (writing stuff down forces you to be honest about knowing it well) and the feedback afterwards. Without asking for $10K on Kickstarter!! I see the direction this is going and I don't like it at all. I hope Kickstarter won't end up harming open source.
- ilink 13y ago
  That's a litte hyperbolic, this is the first I have seen of something like that on Kickstarter.
  - eliben 13y ago
    Not at all. I withheld this reaction N times before finally posting it. The project mentioned in an earlier comment (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp) is another example. I'm talking about programming projects in general (tutorials, new apps, libraries, toolchains) and not specifically how-to tutorials. Why participate in open-source if you can try to get real money for it on Kickstarter?
    - bdcravens 13y ago
      With all due respect, the idea that open source projects are always the result of free, volunteer work is a bit of a sheltered and idealistic view. Open source projects with the most tractions are either sponsored, or someone is writing open source code as part of a job they're paid for. (a few examples: Rails, node.js, Linux, Vagrant ....) For projects where that's not an option, crowdfunding is a good alternative. Most "involved" in open source are consumers. Crowdfunding allows for involvement and support at a different level, and is totally consistent with the open source ethos. Open source is about freedom, not money.
- bitcartel 13y ago
tomku 13y ago
It's probably not a good idea to use a "popular game character" in your example images, even if you don't name him. The sprite itself is copyrighted by Nintendo, and using it in your game like that is probably not going to fall under fair use.
bdcravens 13y ago
This violates Kickstarter rules. See the $50 pledge: The price will jump to $100 after the Kickstarter, so sign up now!" Kickstarter project guidelines: Kickstarter cannot be used to fund e-commerce, business, and social networking websites or apps. (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines#prohibited http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines#prohibited) No matter if you throw the "education" label on it, it's still a paid membership site. A business website. Even if it were allowed, it's miscategorized. The "Open Software" category is to fund open source projects, not education efforts about open source software. I don't see that any of the software that would come out of this project would be released as open source.
- pc86 13y ago
  We'll find out. I submitted a note to Kickstarter informing of the project and that it may be a violation of their rules. We'll see if they take it down.
- tomku 13y ago
  The local learning environment gem is "Open source (license TBD)" according to the page. Edit: Since you responded to my other comment - I'm not claiming that what they're doing is allowed by the rules, just responding to that particular point.
  - bdcravens 13y ago
    Yes, but that's not the totality of the project. Had it been limited to that, it would probably be ok.
briandear 13y ago
I actually know and have worked with Tom Black extensively. He was an instructor with me at General Assembly in NYC and, after being in the Ruby education space, it's clear there is a market for great developer education courses. The target market isn't the typical hacker news reader, it's the job seeker looking to expand their marketability. There are plenty of 'free' resources to learn cooking, yet there is still a huge demand for cooking schools. Many of us don't think twice about paying for Railscasts or CodeSchool because they provide value to the user. I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a high quality instructional product to people who make be overwhelmed by the variety of free and occasionally dubious offerings. When I was getting started, the Rails Tutorial was a bargain at around $100. I can't speak for the quality of Tom's product (yet,) but there is certainly a demand and a need for quality programs for new developers. Given some of the utter nonsense I've seen on kickstarter, this is a worthy project.

24 points by blacktm 13y ago

This is great, but there are already many sites that teach ruby through clean slides, animations and gamification. Most notably (with respect to ruby) is code school. I'm all for more resources, but I don't see how this is filling a market gap.

Stranger2013 13y ago
Ruby is a part of hipster culture. You can't just say "There is enough hipster bands out there, we don't need more" can you?

andreiursan 13y ago

Around minute 1:01, in the kickstarter video, he says that ruby is used by facebook o_O. I don't think that it is, is it?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jcoder 13y ago
I'm sure it is somewhere. Lots of software behind Facebook.
knowtheory 13y ago
Remember that both Chef and Puppet are written in Ruby. Ruby is in a lot of things by virtue of the fact that it's so prevalent in the DevOps world.
- andreiursan 13y ago
  Yes, I also used Chef. But I don't think that is enough reason to market a language as beeing a "FB" one. Because in that way you can market that 80% of the companies use ruby.
bdcravens 13y ago
Probably not their public facing website, but most companies run tons of code you'll never see. I've done ColdFusion since 1999, and while it's not a language the cool kids use, I've come across tons of large companies that use it for internal HR sites, internal content management, etc.
kawsper 13y ago
They do. See the comment on this answer on SO: http://stackoverflow.com/a/553455 http://stackoverflow.com/a/553455
- bri3d 13y ago
  That guy isn't a Ruby developer -at- Facebook; he writes Facebook Platform apps in Ruby. With that being said I'm sure there's something in Ruby somewhere at Facebook - in an organization that size, there's room for a lot of best tools for the job. Plus, Ruby is big in the CM/operations/deployment world given the popularity of both Puppet and Chef.

melling 13y ago

There are lots of places to learn Ruby. At this point, you could Google just about any question that you had. How about something more ambitious? Anyone want to crowd fund a small satellite or lunar rover for the Google Lunar Prize? http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/ http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

alpb 13y ago

I wouldn't pay $25 for this Kickstarter project. Codeacademy and Udemy has Ruby classes to grasp enough knowledge and cost less than this.

bdcravens 13y ago
I also have to give a +1 to CodeSchool.

locofacetwice 13y ago

9 times out of 10 people choose to learn Ruby for only one purpose - Ruby On Rails. This tutorial will not be too good for 9 out of 10 people.

programminggeek 13y ago

I wonder if this project will be as poignant as other ruby learning projects.

swatkat 13y ago
I think I see what you did there :) Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby: http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/ http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/
- glitchdout 13y ago
  And don't forget his interactive course! http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby

eliben 13y ago

There used to be a time where people created programming tutorials just for the heck of it: to learn the language better themselves, to do something good, to get some rep, to make a name for themselves. I wrote quite a few myself - enjoyed every minute of it - both the process of writing (writing stuff down forces you to be honest about knowing it well) and the feedback afterwards. Without asking for $10K on Kickstarter!! I see the direction this is going and I don't like it at all. I hope Kickstarter won't end up harming open source.

ilink 13y ago
That's a litte hyperbolic, this is the first I have seen of something like that on Kickstarter.
- eliben 13y ago
  Not at all. I withheld this reaction N times before finally posting it. The project mentioned in an earlier comment (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp) is another example. I'm talking about programming projects in general (tutorials, new apps, libraries, toolchains) and not specifically how-to tutorials. Why participate in open-source if you can try to get real money for it on Kickstarter?
  - bdcravens 13y ago
    With all due respect, the idea that open source projects are always the result of free, volunteer work is a bit of a sheltered and idealistic view. Open source projects with the most tractions are either sponsored, or someone is writing open source code as part of a job they're paid for. (a few examples: Rails, node.js, Linux, Vagrant ....) For projects where that's not an option, crowdfunding is a good alternative. Most "involved" in open source are consumers. Crowdfunding allows for involvement and support at a different level, and is totally consistent with the open source ethos. Open source is about freedom, not money.
bitcartel 13y ago

tomku 13y ago

It's probably not a good idea to use a "popular game character" in your example images, even if you don't name him. The sprite itself is copyrighted by Nintendo, and using it in your game like that is probably not going to fall under fair use.

bdcravens 13y ago

This violates Kickstarter rules. See the $50 pledge: The price will jump to $100 after the Kickstarter, so sign up now!" Kickstarter project guidelines: Kickstarter cannot be used to fund e-commerce, business, and social networking websites or apps. (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines#prohibited http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines#prohibited) No matter if you throw the "education" label on it, it's still a paid membership site. A business website. Even if it were allowed, it's miscategorized. The "Open Software" category is to fund open source projects, not education efforts about open source software. I don't see that any of the software that would come out of this project would be released as open source.

pc86 13y ago
We'll find out. I submitted a note to Kickstarter informing of the project and that it may be a violation of their rules. We'll see if they take it down.
tomku 13y ago
The local learning environment gem is "Open source (license TBD)" according to the page. Edit: Since you responded to my other comment - I'm not claiming that what they're doing is allowed by the rules, just responding to that particular point.
- bdcravens 13y ago
  Yes, but that's not the totality of the project. Had it been limited to that, it would probably be ok.

briandear 13y ago

I actually know and have worked with Tom Black extensively. He was an instructor with me at General Assembly in NYC and, after being in the Ruby education space, it's clear there is a market for great developer education courses. The target market isn't the typical hacker news reader, it's the job seeker looking to expand their marketability. There are plenty of 'free' resources to learn cooking, yet there is still a huge demand for cooking schools. Many of us don't think twice about paying for Railscasts or CodeSchool because they provide value to the user. I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a high quality instructional product to people who make be overwhelmed by the variety of free and occasionally dubious offerings. When I was getting started, the Rails Tutorial was a bargain at around $100. I can't speak for the quality of Tom's product (yet,) but there is certainly a demand and a need for quality programs for new developers. Given some of the utter nonsense I've seen on kickstarter, this is a worthy project.