# \* Please help a RoR Newbie!\*

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 15, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036 "2008-03-15T18:59:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036/1 "2008-03-15T18:59:24Z")

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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!! 🙂

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

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**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036/2 "2008-03-15T20:27:57Z")

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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

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**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036/3 "2008-03-15T21:46:26Z")

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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/](http://railscasts.com/) (short but free)  
and [http://peepcode.com/](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.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036/4 "2008-03-15T23:24:17Z")

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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 ☹ ) 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/](http://railscasts.com/) (short but free)  
> and [http://peepcode.com/](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

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/please-help-a-ror-newbie/132036/5 "2008-03-16T07:22:04Z")

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

[Http://www.rubyplus.org](Http://www.rubyplus.org)  
Free Ruby & Rails screencasts