'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today • Hacker News Board

Re: 'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today

#61

Post by will_lam » Sat, Nov 30, 2013, 10:10 PM UTC

DanielKehoe wrote: post #31

JSno wrote: post #27

to be honest, this is a just ok book. For ROR beginners, stick with Micheal's tutorial. http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

I recommend Michael Hartl's excellent book. For some beginners, "Learn Ruby on Rails" is a good "prequel." Not everyone is ready for Hartl's tutorial, especially if they've had little programming or web development experience.

Interesting that you mention that as that was going to be the next resource I was going to look into beyond using other supplementary resources like Treehouse and Codecademy.

Re: 'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today

#62

Post by Adam89 » Sun, Dec 01, 2013, 2:00 AM UTC

DanielKehoe wrote: post #20

ihuman wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they they can send you unwanted emails. There is no such thing as a free lunch. In order for you to get the book, you have to give away your contact information.

"They" is me, a solo author who gave up six months of consulting income to produce a book to help Rails beginners. Would you care to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign so the book can reach the people who need it? What do you wish to offer in exchange? How about even offering a thank you? Or do you feel you are entitled to enjoy my work, offering nothing in exchange, and encouraging other people to act with no re…

Daniel thanks for the books its amazing and I will donate to the kick starter campaign in the near future. I cannot afford it at this moment in time as I am going through a bootcamp. Thank You Daniel

Re: 'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today

#63

Post by Bahamut » Sun, Dec 01, 2013, 3:33 PM UTC

MattyMc wrote: post #52

It's been almost three years since I began spending nearly every available evening and weekend learning code and web dev. It's been a great adventure. However, contrary to the advice I was given I believe Ruby on Rails is not an effective place to start learning web dev, it certainly wasn't for me. When I started, I had limited knowledge of HTML and almost no experience with CSS, Javascript, SQL or HTTP. I felt bomba…

I agree with this 100% - I too had Michael Hartl's book recommended to me as I was just starting to learn web development, and I found it very daunting. One year later, I now understand a lot of these things with ease, but it definitely is not a good resource for those trying to get into web development.

I haven't checked out this book yet, and I suspect I probably won't get a huge amount out of it since I am comfortable digging into source code of whatever tech to understand libraries. I do think more good resources for learning web development is a plus though, so thanks to the author for making this available for free!

Re: 'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today

#64

Post by MattyMc » Mon, Dec 02, 2013, 1:14 PM UTC

jetblackio wrote: post #56

MattyMc wrote: post #52

It's been almost three years since I began spending nearly every available evening and weekend learning code and web dev. It's been a great adventure. However, contrary to the advice I was given I believe Ruby on Rails is not an effective place to start learning web dev, it certainly wasn't for me. When I started, I had limited knowledge of HTML and almost no experience with CSS, Javascript, SQL or HTTP. I felt bomba…

That's interesting to hear. I'm a system administrator and would like to learn web development. I was planning on starting with Rails. I know the basics of HTML and CSS and am pretty experienced with SQL. Do you have a route of learning you recommend?

If you have experience with SQL you might be far better off than I was. Try starting with the book in this thread; it seems like an excellent starter book and covers many concepts that frankly, myself and others had to piece together from Stack Overflow questions. The best advice I can give you is to start with a project; what do you want to make? If you're set on Rails, jump into Ruby using the nice online book Learn Ruby the Hard Way. Consider checking out Rails for Zombies for a nice, fun intro into Rails and then dive into the book listed in this thread. Best of luck! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Re: 'Learn Ruby on Rails' is free today

#65

Post by jetblackio » Thu, Dec 12, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

MattyMc wrote: post #64

jetblackio wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting to hear. I'm a system administrator and would like to learn web development. I was planning on starting with Rails. I know the basics of HTML and CSS and am pretty experienced with SQL. Do you have a route of learning you recommend?

If you have experience with SQL you might be far better off than I was. Try starting with the book in this thread; it seems like an excellent starter book and covers many concepts that frankly, myself and others had to piece together from Stack Overflow questions. The best advice I can give you is to start with a project; what do you want to make? If you're set on Rails, jump into Ruby using the nice online book Lear…

Thanks for the reply. I do have a couple pretty simple projects in mind. This may be the impetus I need to go ahead and get started. Thanks!