Is InstantRails still a viable way to start with Rails?

All,

Have a friend who is starting out on Windows with Rails using Instant
Rails but he’s having problems. Anybody have any good/bad experience
with it so I can help set his expectations?

Thanks,
Wes

Although yes it is ok to use instant rails when initially starting out
with ROR but when i began i just installed ruby and downloaded free
netbeans IDE. Netbeans had everything built in and ready to go out of
the box.

Yes InstantRails is still the best way to start.

You get Ruby, Rails, Apache, phpMyAdmin all ready configured and ready
to go.

Once you have been going for some time then you can spread your wings
and do whatever you like.

I use NetBeans on windows and Linux but still have my Ruby/Mysql etc
all packaged in the InstantRails folder on windows.

Cheers
George

Hi,

I’m happy with InstantRails. I use RadRails, but only to edit files and
have a nice environment, but I don’t use the IDE really.

InstantRails is very handy, make sure you update to Rails 2.1.2 after
downloading it, at least last time I got it there was Rails 2.0 with it.

Regards

Just to play devil’s advocate…

If you spend some time reading on the web, and retrieve and install all
the pieces and parts yourself, you’ll have a much better notion of just
what the moving parts are, and you’ll know what you have installed when
the inevitable gotcha happens. You’re forced to learn about what makes
up your application and the runtime, and as such, you are not beholden
to anyone else to bring your environment up to speed with the next
version of whatever widget.

I’ve followed that tactic with both Windows (early development) and
Linux (production) installs, and while frustrating at times, I have a
very short list of known players in my application. It made it very
simple to migrate from Windows development to Linux production… (and
to re-create my development envt in an Ubuntu VMware instance), and to
go from Rails 1.2.6 to Rails 2.1.0.

Wes G. wrote:

All,

Have a friend who is starting out on Windows with Rails using Instant
Rails but he’s having problems. Anybody have any good/bad experience
with it so I can help set his expectations?

Thanks,
Wes
Developing Rails on Windows, is generally a bad idea. Install cygwin to
try and mimic as much as possible your production environment if your
server will run linux.

Something I have not tried, but worth checking out is this:

On Nov 11, 4:40 am, Wes G. [email protected]

My experience with Instant Rails is that it’s a very nice way to get
going, but if you’re going to do any kind of serious development
you’re going to end up installing everything anyway

My advice:
If you just want to play around with rails a little bit but never
intend on doing any “real” work with it then IR is fine. If you’re
getting started on a project that you plan on eventually deploying to
a server somewhere, go through the steps of getting everything
installed properly on your box.

What kind of problems is he having and what version of IR is he using.
The sample apps may not run with IR 2.x.

I have found IR works fine (within the limitations of Windows) but I
only use it for some deployment. I develop with Linux which I think
gives a much better environment as well as better performance.

Norm

My advice:
If you just want to play around with rails a little bit but never
intend on doing any “real” work with it then IR is fine. If you’re
getting started on a project that you plan on eventually deploying to
a server somewhere, go through the steps of getting everything
installed properly on your box.

I would take it a step farther and say if you are going to do some
“real work” (what is real work anyway?), then I would recommend trying
to get an install up on a Linux box somewhere. When you deploy, it
will more than likely be to a Linux-based server, so it will save you
many headaches if you have at least one box where you can develop as
close to the deployment environment as possible.

Just a thought.