"How did you start off learning programming?"

[Charlotte Spencer]

This a question I was just asked on Twitter by a friend. As I mentioned to some of you last weekend, I've tried to learn all different programming languages over the last 8 years, so I've come across a lot of awesome resources. What should I recommend to someone who just wants to "program"? Start off with HTML? Think about what you'd like to make and find a language that fits in with that accordingly?

As an afterthought, they said they'd really like to learn Ruby. There are a confusing amount of resources to do so, I'm going through the things available myself as after Rails Girls, I'm ready to start learning! I'm wondering, how did you all learn Ruby? I want to know what you found beneficial and what didn't go so well. I have a lot of people recommending _why's guide but I find it a little manic and some say it's a little outdated. Learn Ruby the Hard Way looks good, but so do 50 other things I can find with a google search. 

What do you recommend? It's a bit messy out there.

Charlotte

[Despo Pentara]

Hi Charlotte,

Myself, I started with an attempt to do the Rails blog http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html and eventually, moved on to attempting to use Sinatra, was pointed toward the ruby documentation ( http://ruby-doc.org/ ) and   gradually build up knowledge from from there. Practise is key.

Then again, I realise that for me this was not the first programming experience, so I may not have encountered the same issues as you.

These days, there are so many more resources that can be useful.

A couple that I have encountered and would recommend are

1. http://rubykoans.com/ don't be disappointed if you can't finish this on the first go, it helps you dig deep into ruby and learn the fundamentals of the language

2. http://railsforzombies.org/ because zombies are always fun

3. https://github.com/ - search github, find gems that you have used, open up the code*, go through it. You may not always be able to understand it, but these are the best examples you will find.

*every gem you use is also on your machine. In any project with a Gemfile eg. the project we build this weekend, you can use `bundle open <gem>` from the command line to open it in your editor

Pairing is also a nice way to learn. If you have something you want to work on, try and find someone to work on it with you, even if it's just for a couple of hours (me and the other coaches are keen in helping, I think a lot of the Rails Girls would be up for it as well). Two pairs of eyes are always better than one!

Also, no question is a stupid question. Don't be afraid to ask.

My two cents.

Thanks,

Despo

t: @despo

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[Emily Coats]

As someone who'd never done any programming before Ruby, I definitely
recommend Learn Ruby the Hard Way. It makes you actually think and do
stuff. Other resources I've found are either just fill in the gaps style
(like tryruby, codeacademy etc) or are just books to read without
forcing you do anything. LRTHW also goes through the command line,
tests, and introduces you to Sinatra which helps Rails then make sense.
E

[Frederick Cheung]

The chunky bacon is funny but it does all date back to the ruby 1.8 day, although in terms of getting started it probably doesn't matter. I only came across it once I already knew ruby though.

I started with the Pragmatic programmers ruby book (' the pick axe'). That books is part introduction to the language, some environmental stuff and an api reference. I only read the first part. THen I worked my way through agile web development with rails (in those days it was pretty much the only book on rails, though things have changed since) and then I started my first ruby/rails job.

Fred

[Damon Davison]

Hmm. It's been a long time. The Pickaxe book is great, but I was already an experienced programmer when I picked it up.

I liked _Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby, but it's outdated; you should still look it up, though. The same goes for The Bastard's Book of Ruby, which was written for people with a real pragmatic need to use Ruby to get and analyse data.

I think Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial is great: http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

If you want a paper book, try Rails 3 in Action (Yehuda Katz and Ryan Bigg): http://www.manning.com/katz/ It's probably the best such book out there.

Charlotte

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[Damon Davison]

Ah, I somehow missed that you'd already seen the Poignant Guide

[Lilly browne]

Please inform me when is the next rails girls in London please?

I have been invited to the first event but I was unable to make it due to work. 

Regards

Lilly Browne

On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 4:28 PM, Damon Davison <da...@new-bamboo.co.uk> wrote:

Ah, I somehow missed that you'd already seen the Poignant Guide

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[Damon Davison]

Hi Lilly,

That's what this mailing list is for! :)

Damon