Comments on David Alison's Blog: Book resources for learning Ruby on Rails

@Anon: First I've heard of it. Any particular aspe...

2009-07-24T21:11:08.603-04:00

@Anon: First I've heard of it. Any particular aspect of it that makes it worth recommending?

Have you read Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby? An ex...

2009-07-24T14:55:22.433-04:00

Have you read Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby? An excellent resource, though not everyone's style.

@Sharad: I did a blog post on that last year that ...

2009-06-09T08:21:21.122-04:00

@Sharad: I did a blog post on that last year that may give you some insight.

As for the selection of RoR over Python, Java, etc. I really wanted to go with a framework that was simple, something I could grok pretty quickly. The reason I was tired of Visual Studio was the sheer complexity of the environment; when you have a development tool that can target anything from custom client applications and command line utilities on through web based services you have a huge amount of overlap.

Though Java has a huge following I didn't really give it too much thought. Most of the folks I knew that developed in Java didn't seem to care for it. For that reason more than anything else I didn't really consider it.

I did look very briefly at Python but didn't find that the frameworks (Django in particular) were as mature or comprehensive as RoR was. If I was going to switch to a new open source based language I wanted one that was in heavy use and had a vibrant and active community.

Keep in mind that my selection process was for an entrepreneur using this for my own business. If you are doing this to help build up your resume for either job growth or to obtain additional contracts your criteria would be very different than mine.

I'm a Windows developer who has recently migrated ...

2009-06-09T06:32:12.987-04:00

I'm a Windows developer who has recently migrated to a Mac. I am now considering moving away from the Windows/.Net/ASP.Net/C# development environments for various reasons and I am in the process of looking at alternative tools/languages such as Ruby (& Rails), Python + frameworks, Java and GWT etc. I would be interested to hear if you went through a similar evaluation process and why you opted for Ruby on Rails.

@Chris: Ruby (and especially Rails) is a great lan...

2009-06-08T16:32:56.058-04:00

@Chris: Ruby (and especially Rails) is a great language/environment. I've been seriously impressed with how much I can actually get done with it and the fun I've had writing Ruby code. It takes some adjustment if you're coming from a structured language and a comprehensive development package (like Visual Studio) but once you do adjust the productivity gains are substantial.

@akmassey: Thanks - those are both excellent resources.

Best (free) Rails tutorials: http://railscasts.co...

2009-06-08T14:23:28.541-04:00

Best (free) Rails tutorials: http://railscasts.com

Best (free) Rails podcast: http://railsenvy.com

Damn! Now you've got me tempted to learn this - an...

2009-06-08T11:08:08.259-04:00

Damn! Now you've got me tempted to learn this - and soooo little time :)