* Please help a RoR Newbie!*

Rails
1

Hi Everyone!

I’ve only just started with Ruby so am a touch lost.

THis morning i downloaded the quick win (locomotive) and, once i swith
that on, I can view the Ruby start page at localhost:3000

My problem is, I’m not that great with finding my way round terminal. I
can do basic cd … etc to view files, but am VERY LOST!! :slight_smile:

the Ruby page says:

Create your databases and edit config/database.yml

Rails needs to know your login and password.

Use script/generate to create your models and controllers

To see all available options, run it without parameters.

Set up a default route and remove or rename this file

Routes are setup in config/routes.rb.

Any ideas how i go ahead from here & get started?

ALSO - what editor do you use? and can i download one for my mac?

Cheers
Westy

2

I think your best bet would be to pick up a good book. Agile Web
Development with Rails or any of the other books that get recommended
on the list frequently.

As for editors, most people on OS X swear by Text Mate

Mike

3

Caveat: Rails has gone from version 1.2 to 2.0 recently with many
significant changes.

Because most books and tutorials were written for 1.2, a total newbie
may get confused.
The situation is improving, but you just need to be aware of this
context in what you’re reading/using.

Advice:

  1. Screencasts - there are many videos out there…
    I like http://railscasts.com/ (short but free)
    and http://peepcode.com/ (longer but a small fee)

  2. Howto books - If you like more real-world examples (like me), there
    are a couple of books where they walk you through
    building a whole project. I like it because it gets you in the rhythm:
    adding a plugin; buildin models, controllers, view, tests, etc.
    (or tests first:-). Then you repeat it again.

Apress has two books: one on E-commerce and one on a Social
Networking Site. (perhaps they have more.
Railsspace - building a social networking site.

These are mostly geared for Rails 1.2 I think, though the Apress SNS
book is very RESTful.
But they (all, I think) also have active google groups where the
authors respond fairly quickly.
Plus, I think they redone their code base for Rails 2.0.

  1. Reference - The Rails Way is a recent book (so it covers 2.0) with
    more of a reference fee; short code snippet example;
    good explanations of most topics.

hope that helps.

4

Hi Doug,

Doug schrieb:

Caveat: Rails has gone from version 1.2 to 2.0 recently with many
significant changes.

Because most books and tutorials were written for 1.2, a total newbie
may get confused.
The situation is improving, but you just need to be aware of this
context in what you’re reading/using.

you hit the main problem: I’m just beginning with RoR and read the book
“Agile Webentwicklung mit Rails” of David Thomas and David Heinemeier
Hansson (the German version of “Agile Web D. with Rails”). But
it covers only Rails 0.8.x. I’ve got the Rails Cookbook (in German, too)
and (you guess it :frowning: ) it’s too old, too.

I installed netbeans for RoR and tried the Depot application. But it
crashes when calling AdminController#list because paginate seems to be
deprecated – so the demo application is also too old – very
frustrating…

Advice:

  1. Screencasts - there are many videos out there…
    I like http://railscasts.com/ (short but free)
    and http://peepcode.com/ (longer but a small fee)

I’ll take a look at those screencasts. But I’d prefer a book or a good
tutorial. So I’ll take a look at “The Rails Way”.

Thanks,
Martin

5

I have some screencasts for railcasts 2 on my site too.

Http://www.rubyplus.org
Free Ruby & Rails screencasts