5 ms·

Show HN: I learned Rails and Objective-C in a year to build this

40 points by jpn 12y ago

What I built: Bonjournal, a travel journal app - iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933) - web app (https://bonjourn.al) What and how I learned (in order of importance): * Ruby on Rails * - Michael Hartl's Ruby On Rails Tutorial - Railscast - Code School - Ruby Toolbox * Objective-C * - Nerd Ranch iOS Programming - NSScreencast - Code School - WWDC Videos (for performance improvements) - CocoaPods Rank (https://gist.github.com/luvtechno/8842522) And of course, a lot of Stack Overflow. I didn't think it would be possible. I thought I was too old to learn. But I had a project in mind that I cared about, and I wanted to see it completed. It's never been easier to learn -- go out there and create! Special thanks to my wife, who is also my designer. Besides all the wireframes, marketing, and testing she has done, she also learned a little SASS and Objective C to make all those little pixel and font size adjustments. That was HUGE.

hansy 12y ago
I still affirm that Michael Hartl's "Ruby On Rails Tutorial" (http://www.railstutorial.org/book http://www.railstutorial.org/book) is one of the most beautifully simplistic and effective tutorial books ever written. Combine his book with Ryan Bates's Railscasts (http://railscasts.com/ http://railscasts.com/) and you can pretty much build anything you can think of. I learned RoR we these resources as well and am just starting to take the plunge into iOS. I haven't looked into NSScreencasts much, but I did obtain a copy of The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iOS Programming (http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/dp/0321942051 http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/d...). Anyway, congrats on launching both an iOS and web application. Bonjournal looks awesome!
- jpn 12y ago
  Thanks! Good luck with iOS. NSScreencast is not as useful as Railscast, but there are some pretty useful tips. For example, I thought this episode was really helpful starting off: http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch I've also been hearing great things about Treehouse, which I plan to use when I tackle Android: http://teamtreehouse.com/ http://teamtreehouse.com/
grimborg 12y ago
Beautiful!
- jpn 12y ago
  Thank you!
AndrewTerry 12y ago
You say that you took a year to learn RoR and Objective-C for this, but can I ask: were you starting from scratch as a programmer and was this a full-time project (or were you balancing your learning and development alongside having another job)? Congrats on the launch! Both the app and the website look beautiful.
- jpn 12y ago
  Thanks! I basically started from just Excel/VBA and a little bit of .NET. Initially, I was doing this along with another project, but during the second half, it was full-time.
evolve2k 12y ago
Clickable: Bonjournal, a travel journal app - iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933) - web app (https://bonjourn.al https://bonjourn.al)
- jpn 12y ago
  Cool. Thanks!
2close4comfort 12y ago
That is an amazing site, congratulations.
- jpn 12y ago
  Thank you!
unfed 12y ago
Quite an achievement. Best of luck to you and your wife.
- jpn 12y ago
  Thxs!
nicholas73 12y ago
Beautiful and simple way to log trips! It never occurred to me to do it, but your app made me want to! Honestly think you can charge a buck more, and I rarely buy apps. Well, unless you have competition.
- jpn 12y ago
  Thanks, nicholas73! We're going to bump up the price to 2.99 after this promotional period. We want to give our currents users/followers a way to get the app at a discount.
joshdance 12y ago
Nice work. Great to see you go from not much to a nice polished app. And props for including your resources.
- jpn 12y ago
  Thanks, joshdance. There are so many quality resources out there for a newbie developer!
doodilin 12y ago
Thanks all for the kind words of support! Another essential resource was Basecamp's (formerly 37Signals) book, Getting Real. It is a must-read for anyone building software, especially for first-timers like us. https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf
mcintyre1994 12y ago
Congrats! :) I'm not sure how you're implementing responsiveness (it works fantastically btw) but if it's feasible it could be nice to de-emphasise the iOS app a bit on other mobile devices. I can see the site is basically the same as desktop but with the big iOS banner it felt a lot like a limited content mobile site. That said the iOS app looks really nice - design reminds me a bit of airbnb which is definitely a good thing. Can I pay for an Android app some time? Congrats again!
- doodilin 12y ago
  Thanks, mcintyre1994! We're using Susy and Compass for responsive CSS. We have plans for an Android version, as soon as jpn learns Java. :) Great feedback on our home page -- you're right about the iOS emphasis, and limited content feel. We're currently refreshing our home page, and will be sure to work these issues out. Thanks!!
blipper2001 12y ago
Balling! I'm actually going to Canada today so I will give it a test drive.
- jpn 12y ago
  Great! Happy travels!
redrory 12y ago
Congrats.. so how much fail to actually deliver. The app looks beautiful. Question - in terms of the iOS web, what's the Ruby vs Objective-C breakdown? Are you using the same Rails back-end from the web app with the iOS app. Would love to speak with you, shoot me an email - username @ gmail.com
- jpn 12y ago
  We're pretty happy with the end product. All of the features that we wanted are there. Breakdown is probably 75% Ruby 25% Objective-C. Yes, same back end as the web app, which I think is key. The iOS app is essentially a glorified browser. So everything is pretty DRY and easy to maintain.
mostlybadfly 12y ago
Wow, this is great, good job! I am currently teaching myself while working full time in a non tech related career. May I ask how old you are? This is very encouraging. I'm currently Hartl's tutorial and CodeSchool, so hopefully I'm on the right track.
- jpn 12y ago
  I'm 35.
  - mostlybadfly 12y ago
    good to know, a bit of the insecurity I've had comes from seeing people who have been doing some of things since what seems like forever. Good to know there is still hope!

40 points by jpn 12y ago

hansy 12y ago

I still affirm that Michael Hartl's "Ruby On Rails Tutorial" (http://www.railstutorial.org/book http://www.railstutorial.org/book) is one of the most beautifully simplistic and effective tutorial books ever written. Combine his book with Ryan Bates's Railscasts (http://railscasts.com/ http://railscasts.com/) and you can pretty much build anything you can think of. I learned RoR we these resources as well and am just starting to take the plunge into iOS. I haven't looked into NSScreencasts much, but I did obtain a copy of The Big Nerd Ranch Guide to iOS Programming (http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/dp/0321942051 http://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Ranch-Edition-Guides/d...). Anyway, congrats on launching both an iOS and web application. Bonjournal looks awesome!

jpn 12y ago
Thanks! Good luck with iOS. NSScreencast is not as useful as Railscast, but there are some pretty useful tips. For example, I thought this episode was really helpful starting off: http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch http://nsscreencast.com/episodes/63-from-scratch I've also been hearing great things about Treehouse, which I plan to use when I tackle Android: http://teamtreehouse.com/ http://teamtreehouse.com/

grimborg 12y ago

Beautiful!

jpn 12y ago
Thank you!

AndrewTerry 12y ago

You say that you took a year to learn RoR and Objective-C for this, but can I ask: were you starting from scratch as a programmer and was this a full-time project (or were you balancing your learning and development alongside having another job)? Congrats on the launch! Both the app and the website look beautiful.

jpn 12y ago
Thanks! I basically started from just Excel/VBA and a little bit of .NET. Initially, I was doing this along with another project, but during the second half, it was full-time.

evolve2k 12y ago

Clickable: Bonjournal, a travel journal app - iOS app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonjournal/id719266933) - web app (https://bonjourn.al https://bonjourn.al)

jpn 12y ago
Cool. Thanks!

2close4comfort 12y ago

That is an amazing site, congratulations.

jpn 12y ago
Thank you!

unfed 12y ago

Quite an achievement. Best of luck to you and your wife.

jpn 12y ago
Thxs!

nicholas73 12y ago

Beautiful and simple way to log trips! It never occurred to me to do it, but your app made me want to! Honestly think you can charge a buck more, and I rarely buy apps. Well, unless you have competition.

jpn 12y ago
Thanks, nicholas73! We're going to bump up the price to 2.99 after this promotional period. We want to give our currents users/followers a way to get the app at a discount.

joshdance 12y ago

Nice work. Great to see you go from not much to a nice polished app. And props for including your resources.

jpn 12y ago
Thanks, joshdance. There are so many quality resources out there for a newbie developer!

doodilin 12y ago

Thanks all for the kind words of support! Another essential resource was Basecamp's (formerly 37Signals) book, Getting Real. It is a must-read for anyone building software, especially for first-timers like us. https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf https://basecamp.com/books/Getting%20Real.pdf

mcintyre1994 12y ago

Congrats! :) I'm not sure how you're implementing responsiveness (it works fantastically btw) but if it's feasible it could be nice to de-emphasise the iOS app a bit on other mobile devices. I can see the site is basically the same as desktop but with the big iOS banner it felt a lot like a limited content mobile site. That said the iOS app looks really nice - design reminds me a bit of airbnb which is definitely a good thing. Can I pay for an Android app some time? Congrats again!

doodilin 12y ago
Thanks, mcintyre1994! We're using Susy and Compass for responsive CSS. We have plans for an Android version, as soon as jpn learns Java. :) Great feedback on our home page -- you're right about the iOS emphasis, and limited content feel. We're currently refreshing our home page, and will be sure to work these issues out. Thanks!!

blipper2001 12y ago

Balling! I'm actually going to Canada today so I will give it a test drive.

jpn 12y ago
Great! Happy travels!

redrory 12y ago

Congrats.. so how much fail to actually deliver. The app looks beautiful. Question - in terms of the iOS web, what's the Ruby vs Objective-C breakdown? Are you using the same Rails back-end from the web app with the iOS app. Would love to speak with you, shoot me an email - username @ gmail.com

jpn 12y ago
We're pretty happy with the end product. All of the features that we wanted are there. Breakdown is probably 75% Ruby 25% Objective-C. Yes, same back end as the web app, which I think is key. The iOS app is essentially a glorified browser. So everything is pretty DRY and easy to maintain.

mostlybadfly 12y ago

Wow, this is great, good job! I am currently teaching myself while working full time in a non tech related career. May I ask how old you are? This is very encouraging. I'm currently Hartl's tutorial and CodeSchool, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

jpn 12y ago
I'm 35.
- mostlybadfly 12y ago
  good to know, a bit of the insecurity I've had comes from seeing people who have been doing some of things since what seems like forever. Good to know there is still hope!