

Ask HN: learning Ruby/Rails - gdberrio

What advice would you give for someone with a Non-CS background (economics, to be precise) wanting to learn Ruby &#38; Rails?
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thekevan
This is sort of a link dump but with some clicking around you should find some
good stuff. Good luck!

<http://rubyonrails.org/screencasts>

<http://railsforzombies.org/>

<http://www.workingwithrails.com/>

<http://www.railsmentors.org/>

<http://blog.envylabs.com/2010/12/rails-3-cheat-sheets/>

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/55574/learning-ruby-on-
ra...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/55574/learning-ruby-on-rails)

<http://railstips.org/blog/archives/2010/10/14/stop-googling/>

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TheOnyx
Ruby Koans is a great tool for learning Ruby in general as well as its quirks
and differences with other languages.

<http://rubykoans.com/>

Basically, it presents you with a battery of broken tests. Your goal is to
reach enlightenment by fixing them. The first ones are simple to fix and teach
you simple concepts as you do so. As you go, complexity increases.

It's a great tool for someone new to Ruby and Rails as you will want a solid
understanding of the language if you will be using a framework on which the
language is based. Plus, it reinforces how automated testing can be a valuable
tool.

~~~
sane_delirium
This was interesting to try as someone who's never touched ruby before, it
begins seemingly simple but gets quite complex. Does this really target
beginners, or am I an idiot?

~~~
anthonycerra
If you're an idiot, so am I. It gets really tough.

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runjake
I'm not flaming you here, but you should search HN because this question gets
asked at least once a month and there's lots of valuable advice in those.

Try Googling 'ruby rails site:news.ycombinator.com' without the quotes. Filter
the result for the last year or so, older advice is either wrong or no longer
applicable. There's a search on the HN site, but I prefer Google.

Definitely focus your efforts on Ruby 1.9 and Rails 3, in any case.

Edit: Link!

Here's one from 2 days ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2329517>

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Rhodee
Same here. Thanks for the links. I am specifically interesting in learning
Ruby THEN Rails. The other way feels backwards, but that might just be me.

I digress-I have a basic, I mean real basic question-what is a recommended
environment to start coding ruby projects? I use XAMPP and Aptana for my front
end coding (CSS/HTML) and then render in browser. How do I do replicate that
work flow with Ruby source (and integrate it with my front-end code)?

Lame, I know. But hey stupid questions are the one's you don't ask.

UPDATE: rubykoans answered my editor question. Ruby resources still
appreciated!

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aliukani
TryRuby.org (<http://tryruby.org>) was what I started with.

When you're more comfortable with Ruby and want to get started with Rails, get
a Heroku (<http://heroku.com>) account to play around with and check out Rails
for Zombies (<http://railsforzombies.org/>).

I think you'll enjoy Ruby (and RoR). Ruby's a fun language to code in and I
found it very beginner-friendly.

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ayb
If you're just starting out with Ruby I strongly recommend the book "Ruby for
Rails" by David A. Black. It teaches you Ruby and shows you how Rubyisms work
with Rails.

------
Dramatize
I've found the Lynda.com video tuts great for a quick overview.

Also:

<http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/> and <http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-
rails-tutorial-book>

------
marklabedz
I messed around for a while on <http://hackety-hack.com/> and now I'm playing
with Ruby Koans also.

EDIT: Forgot that I first started with <http://tryruby.org/>

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aihui
Everything mentioned here is good. I also like RailsCasts - Ryan does a
fantastic job with all his screen casts (<http://railscasts.com/>).

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Baadier
Great stuff,I just started getting interested in learning Ruby and theirs some
gems in here, excuse the pun.

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gdberrio
Tks for all the feedback. This is an awsome list to get started.

On to reading & hacking away...

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jorkos
I'm starting to learn as well, thanks for the links guys

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jsavimbi
Your first stop should be to Rails for Zombies
(<http://railsforzombies.org/>), buy Michael Hartl's book Ruby on Rails
Tutorial (<http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book>), Learn
to Program by Chris Pine (<http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/>) and also start
learning Ruby (<http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby/programming-ruby>). Also, sign
up to GitHub and Heroku, locate Ruby and/or Rails meetups close to you, follow
the Ruby/Rails community via Twitter, podcasts, blogs. But most importantly,
start building and deploying apps right away, no matter how small or trivial
they may be.

Also, Sinatra (<http://www.sinatrarb.com/>)

