Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

news.railstutorial.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 37 posts

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#21

Post by escalona »

airlair wrote: post #15

Beginner here, I'm a mechanical engineer with very little experience with programming. I tried to follow the book this week but found it little bit difficult to follow. Question: Should I go learn the basics of Ruby first or should I power through hoping to learn everything along the way? If you think that I should learn the basics first, would you recommend learnrubythehardway or something else? Thanks in advance!

I started learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails a few months ago. I've found it much easier to learn the basics of Ruby before diving into Rails. I started with reading Learn to Program by Chris Pines. The book is aimed at someone new to programming. Does a great explaining programming and Ruby.

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#22

Post by pook1e »

airlair wrote: post #15

Beginner here, I'm a mechanical engineer with very little experience with programming. I tried to follow the book this week but found it little bit difficult to follow. Question: Should I go learn the basics of Ruby first or should I power through hoping to learn everything along the way? If you think that I should learn the basics first, would you recommend learnrubythehardway or something else? Thanks in advance!

As others have mentioned, there are plenty of good Ruby tutorials around. Personally, I thought "why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby"[1] was pretty great. It goes off topic quite a lot, but I think it's a joy to read while still learning the core concepts.

[1] http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#23

Post by adriand »

airlair wrote: post #20
MaxGabriel wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you specifically trying to learn Ruby on Rails? Or just programming/just web development?

Yes, ruby on rails. Learning to start on a webapp project I have in mind. The reason I want to learn ruby on rails as oppose to PHP or Phython is because my friend/partner is more comfortable using ruby on rails. Therefore, in order to collaborate with him, I should learn ruby on rails. Having said all that, I would still like to hear your opinion on what language I should start on.. if you have one. Thanks.

Learning Ruby on Rails will give you a great understanding of how to build web applications, it will give you lots of tools that let you do so quickly, and it will introduce you to an elegant, powerful language that is a joy to use. But the best reason for you, personally, to learn RoR is that you have a friend and partner that would like to collaborate on something with you, and they are (hopefully!) willing to help you.

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#24

Post by meisterbrendan »

pook1e wrote: post #22
airlair wrote: post #15

Beginner here, I'm a mechanical engineer with very little experience with programming. I tried to follow the book this week but found it little bit difficult to follow. Question: Should I go learn the basics of Ruby first or should I power through hoping to learn everything along the way? If you think that I should learn the basics first, would you recommend learnrubythehardway or something else? Thanks in advance!

As others have mentioned, there are plenty of good Ruby tutorials around. Personally, I thought "why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby"[1] was pretty great. It goes off topic quite a lot, but I think it's a joy to read while still learning the core concepts. [1] http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/

yeah. This is the best textbook I've ever read, period. The tangents are actually quite helpful, because they keep you motivated to keep reading, and slow down the pace a bit. Also check out tryruby.org for an awesome interactive tutorial, which was originally written by the poignant author. Good luck, and chunky bacon (you'll get it when you read the book, which you absolutely should do)!

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#25

Post by akurilin »

Purchased and read back to back the first edition of the book. Very glad to see an updated edition, it hasn't been that long, but a lot has changed in the meantime!

Michael, I was looking through the online version of the book and I couldn't find any indication that I was reading the 2nd edition. I apologize if I simply missed it, otherwise I think it might be worthwhile mentioning in the preface that what we're looking at the 2nd ed.

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#26

Post by 55pts »

airlair wrote: post #15

Beginner here, I'm a mechanical engineer with very little experience with programming. I tried to follow the book this week but found it little bit difficult to follow. Question: Should I go learn the basics of Ruby first or should I power through hoping to learn everything along the way? If you think that I should learn the basics first, would you recommend learnrubythehardway or something else? Thanks in advance!

Both. Learn ruby and rails.

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#27

Post by mhartl »

akurilin wrote: post #25

Purchased and read back to back the first edition of the book. Very glad to see an updated edition, it hasn't been that long, but a lot has changed in the meantime! Michael, I was looking through the online version of the book and I couldn't find any indication that I was reading the 2nd edition. I apologize if I simply missed it, otherwise I think it might be worthwhile mentioning in the preface that what we're look…

The Rails version number is highlighted in the right-hand margin (3.2 indicating the 2nd edition). Also, to make the choice easy, the 2nd edition is now the default.

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#28

Post by akurilin »

mhartl wrote: post #27
akurilin wrote: post #25

Purchased and read back to back the first edition of the book. Very glad to see an updated edition, it hasn't been that long, but a lot has changed in the meantime! Michael, I was looking through the online version of the book and I couldn't find any indication that I was reading the 2nd edition. I apologize if I simply missed it, otherwise I think it might be worthwhile mentioning in the preface that what we're look…

The Rails version number is highlighted in the right-hand margin (3.2 indicating the 2nd edition). Also, to make the choice easy, the 2nd edition is now the default.

Awesome, thanks!

Re: Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition

#30

Post by alexol »

I am reading the book on safaribooksonline and commit to github. ( https://github.com/alder101/rails-tutorial ) The book is great. Thank you Michael.

I think that experience of reading such "Learn by example" books would be even better if:

* Each chapter or section are issues on github.

* Examples are commits, associated with the issue.

* Extensive use of labels as book index.

Post reply on HN