I Want to Learn Ruby on Rails
Take a look at this 5 minute screencast showing you how to make a simple, AJAX-ified web application that loads images from flickr using the Ruby on Rails platform. Many new database-backed web services are using Ruby on Rails to accomplish things with ease compared to the older PHP methods. I’m not one to code when bored but RoR is an intriguing open-source framework. Browsing at job listings, it seems that RoR is more and more frequently becoming a recommended skillset.
There is even an informative screencast for building your own blog CMS from scratch in under 15 minutes. Very impressive. If you’re just as interested in RoR development as I seem to be, take a look at this list of the top 12 RoR tutorials at digitalmediaminute.com.
Full-Stack Web Framework. Rails is an MVC web framework where models, views, and controllers are fully integrated in a seamless fashion. That means you automatically get all the benefits of an MVC design without the hassle of explicitly configuring each component to play well with the others.
Real-World Usage. The Rails framework was extracted from real-world web applications. That is, Rails comes from real need, not anticipating what might be needed. The result is an easy to use and cohesive framework that’s rich in functionality, and at the same time it does its best to stay out of your way.
One Language: Ruby. Everything from business logic to configuration files (there aren’t many) are written in the Ruby programming language. With just one language, you hope it’s a good one, and Ruby doesn’t disappoint. Ruby is a full object-oriented language with clean syntax and it has a way of making programming truly fun. Using one language means you don’t have to juggle between multiple languages and dialects as you’re building your application.
Convention over Configuration. Rails works hard to take care of all the repetitive and error-prone chores associated with starting to build a web application, and maintaining it over time. Rails uses simple naming conventions and clever use of reflection to make your work easier with near-zero configuration.
It’s Productive! At the end of the day, Rails is all about helping you stay productive. And in a world where being the first to market and keeping customers happy adds up to increased revenues for you, it pays to pick a tool aligned with those goals. Many real-world applications are already reaping the benefits.
Apple Developer Connection: RoR
Workload Update: One game, one paper done. One game, three finals, one book and most of my history textbook to go.
If you don’t already know Ruby, you might want to consider investigating some other MVC frameworks in a language that you do know. (Python, PHP, whatever…) There’s TurboGears for Python and Cake for PHP, among other things. RoR is really great, but similar things exist for languages that you might already be really comfortable in, which might save you a lot of pain and headaches. Basically, RoR isn’t the be-all-end-all of web development. Feel free to consider other options.
I personally bought the Adaptive Rails book and tried to learn RoR a few months ago. I hit several major snags in the (seemingly simple) application that I was trying to build, and no book, documentation, or IRC channel could help me to get it working. I was constantly nagged by syntax differences since I had tried to jump into Rails without learning much Ruby first. In the end, it was just a large headache for me. YMMV.
Good luck with finals from a fellow student!
I agree with Sean, I’m not sure why Rails is getting all the credit, I guess it’s having a video might be to blame. In addition to the ones above you can also look into ASP.NET 2.0 (*gasp* he said something microsoft). If you want a video, on the Atlas site there is a AJAX app in 15 minutes video there.
In the end, right tool for the job is all that matters. That might be Ruby on Rails, or simply installing Drupal.
I personally don’t see myself as a programmer but am starting to see the benefits of learning some basic web design. Being self sufficient would be so nice, especially with the price that most good web designers are going for these days.
I mean being able to complete small jobs for yourself would be so handy.
Rails is cool, but it is just an MVC framework. The elegant part comes from Ruby. Just look at who is using Ruby without Rails.
I haven’t learned to think in such new ways since I learned OOP 5 years ago. Duck Typing, Meta Programming, the ability to redefine methods during execution. Incredible stuff.
Oh, and I recently took a full-time Rails gig ;)
Hey, does anybody know what software they used in that tutorial? i tried the tutorial and thought it was harder than it looked.
I think it is TextMate.
Rails is cool to learn
Never did see that movie until now. OMFG!! So incredible AWESOME!! Need to redo my schedule for the future. I NEED to learn Ruby on Rails.
Birger :)
You better be kidding. If you want easy end-user ready publishing, use wordpress. Need more stuff? Go for drupal. Even more? Get a peek at php or perl, or even python. I use to dislike frameworks, because you’re bound to what they think you need. If you ever need something more than drupal, you’re allready running rings around what they’ve expected from you. At the end of the day, it’s up to you. Those frameworks don’t do your work. Note I’ve named wordpress just as I could have named any other personal publishing software, and drupal is named in the same sense.
What makes you think I would be using RoR for publishing/CMS stuff?
I’m curious what ever became of this. So much has happened in the past year with Rails. (PS- as I type this Twitter is down. again.)
Any new thoughts?