Trying to start with rails

Rails
1

Well, the online documentation is virtually garbage to me, so let’s
not even go there. I am using a host that already has rails and mysql
and all that stuff installed. Now all I want is to be able to start
creating a ruby program using NOTEPAD and an FTP program (that’s all
I’ve ever needed in the past).

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have, to having
one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World” when I visit
my webpage from the world wide web?

2

Ruby is a large universe; Ruby on Rails (RoR) even more so. Trying to
start programming Ruby by reading a couple of web pages is like trying
to learn French from a tourist brochure.

But it’s easy to get started, and Ruby is so nice and inviting it
pulls you in. Start with a couple of good books on learning Ruby and
Rails.

I’d recommend the Ruby on Rails for Dummies book, which deals
explicitly with RoR on Windows machines. It shows you how to use
RadRails, which is a FREE downloadable Integration Development
Environment (IDE). In other words, you can do EVERYTHING within
RadRails. It has a lot of built-in help that’s useful once you develop
a basic understanding of what’s going on.

Other useful books:
Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book to buy “Mr. Neighborly’s Humble
Little Ruby Book.” You can download an earlier version for free.
EXCELLENT place to get started with pure Ruby (no Rails).

Beginning Ruby From Novice to Professional from Apress (http://
apress.com/). You can get a downloadable PDF at half price, $20.

—Jim Gagne—

3

kopf1988 wrote:

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have,
to having one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World”
when I visit my webpage from the world wide web?

I’d recommend doing a tutorial or two. The one at

has helped some folks. If you’re hosting service supports Rails, you
should
be able to follow their process to load the app you’ll create using FTP
(or
whatever protocol they allow) to your site.

hth,
Bill

4

kopf1988 wrote:

Well, the online documentation is virtually garbage to me, so let’s
not even go there.

Don’t worry about plenty of the people on this forum wrote that
documentation. They don’t mind you saying that!

I am using a host that already has rails and mysql
and all that stuff installed. Now all I want is to be able to start
creating a ruby program using NOTEPAD and an FTP program (that’s all
I’ve ever needed in the past).

Create an app on your own computer, with the command line

rails my_app

Go inside, and start generating models, controllers, and views.

Then edit their contents with Notepad. Then run the site on your own
computer until it has enough features to be worth uploading to a server.

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have, to having
one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World” when I visit
my webpage from the world wide web?

Read the book /Agile Web D. with Rails, 2nd Edition/, by the
Virtual Garbage Programmers. It takes you thru all the low-level steps.

Do not ask this forum any question which that book answers.

And you don’t want Notepad or FTP anymore. Yes it’s fun to know how the
nuts
and bolts work, but they are not sustainable. You will need a real
editor. I
can’t live without one that does a multi-file Search, because all Rails
development consists of making a series of small tweaks to files in any
of 7
different folders.

And you will need a program called Capistrano to, among other things,
make a
backup of each version of your site when you upload the next one. All of
these techniques are leading-edge in the industry, they submit to
Notepad
and SCP (and SSH) when you need them, and they help you go faster.

–
Phlip
Test Driven Ajax (on Rails) [Book]
“Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)”
assert_xpath, assert_javascript, & assert_ajax

5

On Jul 8, 2007, at 11:38 AM, kopf1988 wrote:

Now all I want is to be able to start creating a ruby program using
NOTEPAD and an FTP program (that’s all I’ve ever needed in the past).

Sounds a tad like a programmer from the 60s asking “All I want is
to be able to start creating a Ruby program using punch cards (that’s
all I’ve ever needed in the past.” :slight_smile:

If you program without version control now, I’d highly recommending
picking that up ASAP.

It will change your productivity far more than a change in language
and framework will.

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have, to having
one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World” when I visit
my webpage from the world wide web?

How about this?

http://media.rubyonrails.org/video/rails_take2_with_sound.mov

It’s an oldie, but a goodie!

–
– Tom M., CTO
– Engine Y., Ruby on Rails Hosting
– Support, Scalability, Reliability
– (866) 518-YARD (9273)

6

Sorry about the garbage thing if it offended you… but I simply can’t
wade through the piles of documentation (and believe me, I’m used to
having to wade through them… for some reason with Rails it just
ain’t working).

7

kopf1988 wrote:

Sorry about the garbage thing if it offended you… but I simply can’t
wade through the piles of documentation (and believe me, I’m used to
having to wade through them… for some reason with Rails it just
ain’t working).

Doubtless you have encountered the average Rails blog…

Read the book /Agile Web D. with Rails, 2nd Edition/

Do not ask this forum any question which that book answers.

No prob. I couldn’t imagine writing the kind of documentation that
gets
anyone over the Rails learning curve. You must experience pain, briefly,
before the real fun starts. Believe everyone here - it is well worth it!

–
Phlip
Test Driven Ajax (on Rails) [Book]
“Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)”
assert_xpath, assert_javascript, & assert_ajax

8

I’m going to have to agree with the other commenters here - if you take
the time and endure the pain and suffering for just a little bit you
will find that you can do some really great things with RoR. That might
mean that you’ll have to give up notepad. I got my job about a month ago
programming a website in Ruby on Rails. Before my interview for the job
I had never even heard of RoR, but still I was offered a job which meant
that I had to learn quick. Sometimes that’s just the way things are. I’m
using Aptana to write all my code and going to be using “subversion” (I
think that’s how you spell it) and Capistrono later on down the road.
All I know is that if I limited myself to just using notepad and the
very basic tools I would not even be as far along in understand RoR as I
am right now. Good luck,

~S

9

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have, to having
one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World” when I visit
my webpage from the world wide web?

All of the previous recommendations are great. For an even simpler
introduction to Ruby check out this interactive tutorial:
http://tryruby.hobix.com/

If you’re developing on windows, definitely use InstantRails:
http://rubyforge.org/projects/instantrails/ for the shortest path to
working locally.

-PhilipF

10

PhilipF wrote:

Can anyone maybe just tell me how I can go from what I have, to having
one simple ruby program that will display “Hello World” when I visit
my webpage from the world wide web?

All of the previous recommendations are great. For an even simpler
introduction to Ruby check out this interactive tutorial:
http://tryruby.hobix.com/

Dayam.

_why makes that look so easy, we wonder if he could lead one straight
into
Rails with it!

–
Phlip
Test Driven Ajax (on Rails) [Book]
“Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)”
assert_xpath, assert_javascript, & assert_ajax