Re: New in town

[fuzzy]

This posting offers some options that you might find useful:
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk/browse_thread/thread/35451bac46677efc/d82de35d30d07d47?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=rob+connery#d82de35d30d07d47

On Oct 4, 4:52 pm, Richard McKenna <richarddmcke...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm just stepping into the what seems the wonderful world of Ruby/Rails and
> was just looking for some recommendations for reading materials, resources
> etc.
>
> I am currently watching the Ruby Essential Training and Ruby on Rails 3
> Essential Training over at lynda.com which so far seem pretty good for
> getting me started.
>
> So if anyone can recommend good books, resource sites, personal blogs with
> good tutorials or anything they think I might find useful while starting
> out, I'd be eternally great-full.
>
> I do have several years web development experience so I'm not a total a
> total newcomer just never used Ruby before.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Richard

[Noel]

On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 2:52 PM, Richard McKenna
<richard...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm just stepping into the what seems the wonderful world of Ruby/Rails and
> was just looking for some recommendations for reading materials, resources
> etc.
>
> I am currently watching the Ruby Essential Training and Ruby on Rails 3
> Essential Training over at lynda.com which so far seem pretty good for
> getting me started.
>
> So if anyone can recommend good books, resource sites, personal blogs with
> good tutorials or anything they think I might find useful while starting
> out, I'd be eternally great-full.

This is a great resource
http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

[Richard McKenna]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

[Walter Lee Davis]

On Oct 5, 2012, at 8:33 AM, Richard McKenna wrote:

> Thanks guys, much appreciated.
>

I haven't tried them myself, but I've seen anecdotal evidence that the Lynda tutorials are using really old versions of Rails. Might be a good idea to go through railstutorial.org with an eye to "un-learning" any bad habits you might have picked up at Lynda.

Walter

[gsw]

Online there is:

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/
http://railscasts.com/ (but many not free, but worth it)
https://peepcode.com/ (not free, but worth it)

Most of what you run into you'll be able to google but note that things changed significantly from Rails 2 to 3 (and a lot between 3 and 3.1), and changes between Ruby 1.8 and 1.9. Even though that is less of a pain than it used to be, it will probably trip you up here and there. Lots of stuff on blogs and that will bring up API documentation also. When looking for a gem google something you are looking for and github in same query, or look in rubygems.org (search) sometimes.

This talk from Dave Thomas was great, even though several years old (large file):
http://scotland-on-rails.s3.amazonaws.com/2A04_DaveThomas-SOR.mp4

If you have the luxury of quiet periodically in your car or wherever, check out the podcast at: http://ruby5.envylabs.com/

Also check out the hot stuff in GitHub:
https://github.com/languages/Ruby

Keep a listen on the core Rails list:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!forum/rubyonrails-core
and ruby etc on ruby forum: http://www.ruby-forum.com/
and stackoverflow, which is the best place to get questions answered.

While there are good choices on the book side of things, be careful; things get outdated quickly. And like I said, be aware that people are still using various older versions of Rails or Ruby, some may be using JRuby, etc.

Whatever you do, have fun!

[gsw]

Yes, and that will be the same for railscasts, peepcode, and everything else. Things change quickly. But agree- I used to work somewhere that had access to Lynda and when I checked it their stuff was older, but like anything, maybe they have new content by the time you read this.

[Richard McKenna]

Yeah the Ruby Essential training is 1.8.6 and Ruby on Rails Essential training is 1.9.2 and 3.0.0. I've already been caught out by the changes to migrations but didn't really cause any problems after reading the rails guide on migrations.

I'll be taking a look at all the suggestions tonight, I'm actually quite excited about starting with a new language.

Are there any personal blogs for well known members of the community that are worth a look.

I'm coming from a ColdFusion background and enjoy reading blogs like Raymond Camden's and Ben Nadal's where they regularly posts how too's and ask Ray/Ben type things.

Thanks, Richard

[gsw]

A lot of people tweet and G+, etc. now but unless you are into that here are a few:

Rails:
http://www.rubyinside.com/
http://jonathanleighton.com/articles/
http://yehudakatz.com/ (now mostly Ember and not much on the blog recently)
http://tenderlovemaking.com/
http://broadcastingadam.com/
http://rubyonrails.org/core

JRuby, etc.:
http://blog.headius.com/

The best thing though in the beginning is to just code though. It will make more sense that way. I usually only catch up on blogs when I'm searching for something. Hacker News is my biggest time sink:
http://news.ycombinator.com/
http://news.ycombinator.com/newest

[Weston Platter]

You up for remote pair programming?

I am working on an open source Rails project (RideShare) and leave an hour or so open for pairing.

No pressure. Just an option.