

Ask HN: What's the best website to learn Ruby on Rails - dglassan

I've been programming with PHP for about 2.5 years now and just picked up the codeigniter framework so I have an understanding of MVC.<p>I'd like to learn ruby/rails to add another language under my belt and I'd like to know what sites you guys recommend for familiarizing myself.<p>Should I focus on learning ruby first and then pick up rails? Or would I be able to understand ruby on rails since I'm familiar with MVC design patterns?
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mshe
Here's two posts that you might find helpful.

Getting Your Machine Setup for Ruby on Rails Development:
[http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/getting-setup-for-
ruby-o...](http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/getting-setup-for-ruby-on-
rails-development/)

Then, check out this solid list of resources to help guide you as you learn:
[http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/resources-for-getting-
st...](http://www.engineyard.com/blog/2010/resources-for-getting-started-with-
ruby-on-rails/)

Good luck :)

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clyfe
I learned rails a long time ago from [http://pragprog.com/titles/rails4/agile-
web-development-with...](http://pragprog.com/titles/rails4/agile-web-
development-with-rails) (I learned from the 1st edition)

These days there are also:

<http://guides.rubyonrails.org/>

<http://railscasts.com/>

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trollhammeren
<http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book> is what I use.
Another one which you might wanna use is: <http://railsforzombies.org/> but
I'd advice you to learn by making some small project. That's the best way

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gexla
I make my bread as a PHP developer myself. If you are looking for another
scripting language to learn then these days you might be better off going with
Javascript with Node.js. This would give you the opportunity to get an early
start on a platform with a big future and get more practice with Javascript,
great language to be fluent with.

~~~
taylorbuley
I have been spending my free time in JavaScript for these reasons. In addition
to many wonderful server-side JS improvements to come (in Node, that is),
there are many client-side improvements (IndexedDB, localStorage, etc.) that I
anticipate will blow the lid off of the current JS scene.

~~~
dglassan
I guess I just haven't been able to comprehend the usefulness of what node.js
does and the potential it has. I'm planning on moving back to the bay area
soon and I've heard that developers with ruby skills have not had a hard time
at all getting job offers. My thinking was that having an understanding of PHP
and ruby would be a pretty good combo for a backend developer but I guess
learning JavaScript with node.js would give me some front end experience as
well

~~~
gexla
It would be interesting to see how the different languages stack up in getting
jobs in the bay area. The bottom line is that web application developers in
general are getting lots of job offers there (assuming that Ruby developers
aren't having a problem.) I couldn't see a situation where all the Ruby
developers there are getting snapped up and a glut of PHP developers are being
left out in the cold. In the world of freelancing, I'm certainly not seeing a
lack of work for PHP developers, though you have to cut through a lot of noise
to find the decent jobs (still not lacking though)

I would think that your general skills as a developer would be important.
Versatility and productivity with your tools is probably important. If you
have that down, then I imagine you could easily pickup the same with a
different language.

Edit: I also wonder if it's any good to have a job in the bay area making
$90K+. That's an expensive area to live in, I think I would be just as happy
freelancing for half that (or just as much) from a cheaper area. However, it
also seems to be the mecca for developers, so maybe that's all you need as an
excuse. ;)

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YuriNiyazov
I think learning ruby and rails at the same time is a mistake. Make sure you
have a good grasp of the language first, because Rails uses advanced features
of the language extensively.

