I’m sure this is becoming an FAQ and I apologize. I haven’t quite
found the answers I’m looking for yet and hope you can help.
As a relative noob to Rails I’m trying to figure out how best to
approach my learning of it. I wanted to try to work my way thru Agile
Web D. with Rails and figure out how to create the Depot
application in Rails 2.0. I know people have recommended to not do
that and just work through the book with Rails 1.2.5 instead, but I
don’t really want to spend a lot of time learning methods and
practices that have been deprecated. I was able to get past a few
hurdles but have hit a wall on trying to figure out how to convert a
dynamic scaffold to a static scaffold for an existing model that has a
different controller name (e.g. the old “script/generate scaffold
product admin”) step.
Is working thru the book with an old version of Rails really the best
approach? Then what steps should be followed to retrain my brain to
use the 2.0 methods? Is there a better way to learn Rails 2.0?
Is working thru the book with an old version of Rails really the best
approach? Then what steps should be followed to retrain my brain to
use the 2.0 methods? Is there a better way to learn Rails 2.0?
If you already have the book and are trying to learn from that, I
would stick to 1.2.5. I haven’t read the second edition but I’m
assuming they don’t use many deprecated features that have been
removed in rails 2.0. The new features of rails 2.0 aren’t very
drastic changes if you’ve been using best practices from 1.2.5, so
updating the depot application after you’ve finished the book
shouldn’t be too difficult. Just keep an eye out for any deprecation
warnings and follow the suggestions. After going through the book, you
can learn the new 2.0 features from:
And when you’ve got a good grasp on the basics, you could check out
Advanced Rails Recipes which covers rails 2.0 (but as far as I know is
not a good introductory tutorial): http://pragprog.com/titles/fr_arr
I started working with it in october. By now I am working on my own
app, reading the part of the book that is not related to the depot app
and doing coding in my free time. I actually never finished the depot
app (not that the guide is useless or flawed or anything, it was
mostly because of how I learn things).
I’ve started converting my app to 2.0 in baby steps. Everything new I
create is RESTful, but I’m not in a hurry to refactor the “old” code.
I think it is easier to “learn” 2.0 if you know 1.2, but thats my
opinion.
I would advise you to go trough and create the depot app using 1.2.6.
After you are done, you will be more prepared to start creating your
own app using 2.0.