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More tips for learning Ruby on Rails

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Before approaching the Rails platform, it can be very helpful to first learn some Ruby.

My semester of Ruby on Rails ended, and I am still somewhat confused, but I think I’ve found the problem–I need to learn Ruby. While I am used to learning bits of a web programming language as I go, and applying them as needed, this is not so simple with Rails.

Both due to Rails’ power, but also its unique way of doing things, I decided to go back to Ruby, the language on which Rails is based. If you’re not familiar with either, some background.

Ruby is a programming language written by Yukihiro Matsumoto, a Japanese programmer, back in 1995.

Ruby on Rails, a.k.a “Rails” is a web application platform written in the Ruby language.

While many programmers may be able to dive right in to Rails without even looking at Ruby, I am finding it more useful to go through a Ruby book and learn how it handles things like arrays, procedures, blocks, methods, and so on. While I am used to writing functions (what Ruby calls methods) in ColdFusion and Javascript, Ruby offers a level of sophistication I haven’t seen in those languages.

My tips, then, for approaching Rails (your mileage may vary):

  1. Learn Ruby first. Although I already know how to program, I am going through Learn to Program by Chris Pine, an intro-level book that is all about Ruby. It will be especially helpful if you’re coming from a procedural language like ColdFusion or PHP.
  2. Bookmark things with post-its. You can get little ones for flagging pages, or just get the larger ones and cut them. I’m also using Agile Web Development with Rails. It’s a pretty hefty book, and it can be hard to remember where things are in a section without bookmarks.
  3. Use the wide variety of Rails resources in the community, like RailsForum.com.
  4. Beware of Rails version 2.0. This version is moving towards RESTful development, a great idea, but one that adds to the complexity of learning Rails. I intend to stay in Rails 1.2.x and get my application built, and then jump in to REST. Otherwise I’ll never keep up.

-Ben Seigel, owner, exp design