# Book about rails internals

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [February 17, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903 "2007-02-17T14:42:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/1 "2007-02-17T14:42:29Z")

</div>

Are there any books currently available that discuss topics related  
more about the Rails core code than on how to ‘use’ Rails?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/2 "2007-02-17T15:25:33Z")

</div>

On Feb 17, 2007, at 2:41 PM, Chris H. wrote:

> Are there any books currently available that discuss topics related  
> more about the Rails core code than on how to ‘use’ Rails?

None as of today. People do submit proposals to write about that  
topic, including me myself. It is a very interesting topic that in my  
opinion would interest most Rails developers. Since we are a notably  
curious community (my appreciation). I hope some book will be  
eventually published.

– fxn

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/3 "2007-02-17T21:33:23Z")

</div>

Yeah, I have that book and have read the chapter. Thanks for the input  
tho.

Chris

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/4 "2007-02-17T20:04:06Z")

</div>

David Black’s book “Ruby for Rails” has a chapter called ‘Techniques  
for exploring the Rails source code’ which is the closest thing I’ve  
come across to what you are asking for. It is a very short chapter of  
only 15 pages unfortunately and so there is not a lot of hand holding  
through the code.

-bakki

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/5 "2007-02-17T22:59:33Z")

</div>

Hi~

On Feb 17, 2007, at 12:32 PM, Chris H. wrote:

> > come across to what you are asking for. It is a very short chapter of  
> > only 15 pages unfortunately and so there is not a lot of hand holding  
> > through the code.
> > 
> > -bakki
> > 
> > On 2/17/07, Chris H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:
> > 
> > > Are there any books currently available that discuss topics related  
> > > more about the Rails core code than on how to ‘use’ Rails?

I just gave a talk entitled “Exploring the Request/Response  
Lifecycle through the Mongrel and Rails Source Code” I posted the  
slides online here:

[http://brainspl.at/articles/2007/02/15/exploring-the-request-](http://brainspl.at/articles/2007/02/15/exploring-the-request-)  
lifecycle-through-the-mongrel-and-rails-source-code

It’s not as good without audio but it takes a tour through the  
rails source from the perspective of a request response cycle.

Cheers-  
– Ezra Z.  
– Lead Rails Evangelist  
– removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
– Engine Y., Serious Rails Hosting  
– (866) 518-YARD (9273)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@bigdaddy71](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bigdaddy71)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/book-about-rails-internals/85903/6 "2007-02-18T02:33:46Z")

</div>

I think the best thing to do is to actually go through the code!

Books are good to get started with something (like, learn the basics  
of rails), but after a certain point, you just gotta roll up your  
sleeves and dig in.

-carl

On 2/17/07, Ezra Z. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> > > On 2/17/07, Chris H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:  
> > > [http://brainspl.at/articles/2007/02/15/exploring-the-request-](http://brainspl.at/articles/2007/02/15/exploring-the-request-)  
> > > – Engine Y., Serious Rails Hosting  
> > > – (866) 518-YARD (9273)
> 
> >

–  
EPA Rating: 3000 Lines of Code / Gallon (of coffee)