• Registered: 2011-01-04
  • Posts: 4

Topic: Need guidance for my plan to learn RoR...please advise!

Experience: I've taken an intro to programming course at a good university, but no other programming experience.  Learned the basics of Java in that course.  I watched the 6-hour Berkeley RoR crash course, but the pacing was very fast so I took what I could and moved on.  Now:

Currently: I'm reading Agile Web Development with Rails 3rd Edition, working through examples (I'm understanding Rails pretty well, but the Ruby is beyond me)  and I am looking for a good resource to learn Ruby to the extent that I need it for Ruby on Rails.  Any recommendations?  Is Pickaxe the best way to go?

Goal: I solely want to develop web 2.0 applications (please no criticism, I am a business student by trade but am passionate about web sites and want to take it to the next level) and I want to be able to do so within 3-6 months and accomplish my further learning by developing real projects.

Please advise me, I have spoken to everyone I know who works in tech, but I really need advice from RoR experts in particular.  I am looking for mentors.

Last edited by rgokal (2011-01-08 08:27:34)

  • Registered: 2007-12-31
  • Posts: 1,306

Re: Need guidance for my plan to learn RoR...please advise!

This may be cliche, but I honestly believe it can be done in two steps -
1) Find a project you are interested in.
2) Work on that project smile

The first step is to start - http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2538-the … s-to-start
Following examples is a good way to start, but building something of your own from scratch is a) more satisfying and b) you will learn a lot more and a lot faster.  Everyone has to be a beginner at some point, right?  When I first started, the ruby was beyond me too, even the CSS and JS were beyond me sad

And a less cliche answer, join a rails group or ruby group in your area and work on the samples/examples that they work on, take it small steps at a time and ask them questions.

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  • Registered: 2011-01-14
  • Posts: 1

Re: Need guidance for my plan to learn RoR...please advise!

The Ruby Koans http://rubykoans.com/ are a nice intro to learning Ruby.

You might also consider David Black's Ruby for Rails book, or the Prags Learn To Program http://pragprog.com/titles/ltp2/learn-to-program

Brian

  • dukha
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  • Registered: 2010-11-10
  • Posts: 26

Re: Need guidance for my plan to learn RoR...please advise!

First watch the video on tdd
railsconf.blip.tv/file/2089545/

Then you can't go wrong with Michael Hartl's tutorial: it's by far the best online tutorial I've ever done.

http://railstutorial.org/book

dukha