Hi all
I took a look to several examples of RoR on different web sites, and I
found that it is hard to write a class, in RoR, because I do not
understand all the codes used on the source code.
jsn
I highly suggest the books that the others have mentioned, but if you
are not ready to spend any money yet you can get started with the old
version of Programming Ruby which is free online at
http://www.rubycentral.com/book/index.html
I got started there and it really helped me to get a handle on how
ruby works before I was willing to take the plunge and buy a bunch of
books on RoR.
Read the chapter on classes
(http://www.rubycentral.com/book/tut_classes.html) and that should
give you an idea of how to write a class. Most rails classes look
strange because they inherit from ActiveRecord::Base or
ApplicationController so there is a lot going on in those parent
classes that you don’t see, but you can look at the documentation at
http://rubyonrails.org/api/ to see what’s going on.
I hope this helps,
Jake
I’m brand new myself to Ruby and Rails and even programming. I
started with AWDWR and ran into problems about understanding the code.
I got David’s book Ruby for Rails (Manning) and have been going
through that for the last week. I’m kind of curious to know if the
book should be sufficient enough to get me going in using Rails ?
A few things I noticed, and correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems a
Rails web app would not be as “complex” as a Ruby program. Maybe this
has something to do with the framework itself and Active Record, etc.
On the other hand I think if your having to learn Ruby and Rails you
now have another layer of complexity, terms and techniques to soak in.
Another thing the I’m curious about and I realize everyone’s evolution
is different but it seems that many of the Rails gurus have a pretty
good background / experience(years) in Ruby alone. At the same time I
imagine that people are coming to Ruby and Rails specifically because
they want to learn and use Rails. I’m just wondering if that is really
practical.
Stuart
Stuart Fellowes wrote:
Another thing the I’m curious about and I realize everyone’s evolution
is different but it seems that many of the Rails gurus have a pretty
good background / experience(years) in Ruby alone. At the same time I
imagine that people are coming to Ruby and Rails specifically because
they want to learn and use Rails. I’m just wondering if that is really
practical.
Stuart, your mileage may vary but I did not know Ruby when I discovered
RoR 3 months ago. I knew Ruby was a language invented in Japan and used
to do OO scripting. I thought it was “like Python only more obscure.”
I never read a line of it before. I did not even do a demo application
or create the examples in the book. I just watched the screencasts,
skimmed the books and started re-writing portions of a large PHP app,
learning as I went along. I am about a couple weeks away from
production now.
This is possible if you have a good background in several different
programming languages and web frameworks. The superiority of RoR is
clear if you have been around and approach it with an open mind. Some
additional time may be required to absorb new concepts if you are new to
MVC (model/view/controller pattern), RoR’s philosophies (DRY, REST, TDD,
etc.), or if you are accustomed to a single vendor environment.
Do not let the new language intimidate you. Ruby is very simple to get
started and it reads very well. Definitely get the Pickaxe book as a
Ruby tutorial and reference. The PDF version will come in handy. I use
the reference in the appendix about every 10 minutes when I’m coding.
Between that and the api.rubyonrails.com, you should have everything you
need to get started. As you go along, you will discover the language
has all kinds of neat features.
Personally, I like that so much is unfamiliar. It keeps things fresh
and interesting.
Steven
While the advice all of you have given is quite good I think it’s
missing
the point a little. Let me explain:
It’s obviously trivial to literally write a class for rails
class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
end
What’s not trivial is understanding how this class, which is completely
devoid of content, can possibly have so many variables and methods you
can
interact with. Which even inheritence doesn’t explain well. How can you
possibly inherit a variable from a piece of code written long before
yours
that somehow magically has the name of the variables in your database.
The problem here, I suspect, is that the original poster doesn’t
understand
the magic that is Ruby’s ability to alter classes at runtime or the
trickery
of the method_missing method. But, the thing is, you don’t NEED to
understand that at all in order to use Rails. You just have to accept
that
code magic happens and that there will be a variable for every column in
the
corresponding table in the database and there will be all your standard
CRUD
methods for affecting the object itself.
Yes, these magical insertions at runtime make it harder to know what
exactly
is available for you to call but you’ll gradually understand it as you
go.
Just keep a browser window open with http://api.rubyonrails.org open.
I realize programmers like to have everything spelled out for them in
their
code but sometimes it’s best to just have faith that things will work
out
while you work towards enlightenment.
-kate = masukomi