Ruby on Rails Resources

Installation

Sometimes, the most time consuming part of learning a new programming language is simply installing a working version of the software. With help from these resources, you'll have Rails up in no time.

Manual Installation

If you're interested in getting Rails to work on your own, you'll need to follow the following steps:

• Ruby – First you need to download Ruby.
• Ruby One-Click Installer – If you're having difficulty getting Ruby to run try this installer (Windows only).
• RubyGems – Then you need to download RubyGems (package manager).
• Ruby on Rails – Finally, download Rails.

Automatic Installation

Why do all of the work when someone else will do it for you? Here are two options for automatically installing Rails.

• Instant Rails – One-click Rails installer for Windows. Includes Ruby, Rails, Apache and MySQL all pre-configured and ready to run.
• Locomotive – Self-contained one-click Rails installer for Mac OS X.

Walkthroughs

These step-by-step guides will walk you through the installation process.

• How-tos Installation – If you get stuck, or want to try to install Ruby to a more obscure operating system, look here.
• Fear of Fish: Getting Started – Walkthroughs for Rails installation on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
• Building Ruby, Rails, LightTPD and MySQL on Tiger – Instructions for installing Rails on Mac OS X (Tiger).
• GettingStartedWithRails – After you've installed Rails you still have a few more steps before you're ready to build your first application. This article walks you through those steps.

Webhosts

If you're looking to build Rails apps remotely (of course you are!) you'll need a hosting company that supports Rails. These Web sites list some of your options.

• RailsWebHosts – Extensive hosting list provided by the official Ruby on Rails Web site.
• Rails Hostings – An excellent breakdown including user reviews of the various Rails hosts.

Tutorials

Once you've installed Rails it's time to start coding. Here are a few starting points for you.

Beginner Tutorials

After you've installed Rails you should be ready to start developing applications. The following links are starting places for learning the foundations of Ruby, Rails and building your first apps.

• Try Ruby! – A simple interactive tutorial teaching you the basics of Ruby in 15 minutes.
• Ruby User's Guide – Complete step by step guide for learning Ruby.
• Learning Ruby – Uses program examples to teach you the basics of Ruby. Draws parallels between other languages to show you what makes Ruby unique.
• Hackety Hack: the Coder's Starter Kit – An interactive program designed to teach students how to program Ruby.
• Tutorial – This tutorial walks you through building your first Rails app.
• Using Ruby on Rails for Web Development on Mac OS X – Apple's guide for developing your first Rails application.
• Learn Ruby on Rails: the Ultimate Beginner's Tutorial – A solid Rails tutorial with a lot of explanation rather than just mindless code.
• A Many-to-Many tutorial for Rails – A walkthrough for building your first Rails app.
• Getting Your Feet Wet With Ruby on Rails – A beginner's guide to taking advantage of Rails' unique design. Includes information for creating the SQL database and scaffolding.
• Beginners Guide to Rails, part 1 – Shows you how to get your Rails database off the ground.
• Really Getting Started in Rails – Brief overview of the schematics of a Rails app.
• Basedex: Ruby on Rails – A massive glossary of Ruby on Rails links.
• How-tos – An extensive how-to library containing sample programs.

Advanced Rails Tutorials

Once you've mastered the beginner tutorials, check out this section for information on taking your Rails experience to the next level and building more dynamic applications.

• 19 Rails Tricks Most Rails Coders Don't Know – Programmer Peter Cooper's article containing various Rails hacks.
• Railscasts – Videos teaching you advanced Rails techniques.
• Ajax on Rails – A brief tutorial on adding Ajax to your applications.
• How to paginate, sort and search a table with Ajax and Rails – More information on the Ajax/Rails relationship.
• Ruby on Rails Caching Tutorial – Helping you to master the fine art of caching in Rails.
• How-to: Build a secured web application with Ruby on Rails – One of the most basic requirements with Rails is to have a secure Web application. Here is a breakdown for creating that secure environment.
• A complete turbogears spoliation: how-to build a wiki in 20 minutes (well I did not time it) – Since wikis are one of the hottest trends on the Web today, we figured you might want to see how to build one yourself.
• Agile RSS Aggregator in Ruby – A brief tutorial for developing a RSS aggregator.

Books

Books are key items in every programmer's arsenal. Unfortunately, books are often difficult to navigate, bulky and may not have all the pieces of information you're looking for. Lucky for you, we've found several Ruby and Rails books online that have the information you need, making them excellent additions to your library.

• Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide – A complete reference for Ruby including sample program input and output.
• Why's (poignant) guide to Ruby – A very casual and easy to read Ruby guide with comics and examples.
• Learn to Program – An excellent book for beginners; uses Ruby to teach the fundamentals of programming.
• Ruby on Rails Books – A group of 8 books that walk you through various Rails programs.

Blogs

You're not truly immersed in Rails unless you're reading another programmer's blog. Here are a few of our favorites.

• Web 2.0 with Ruby on Rails – Fantastic blog containing multiple Rails tutorials and links.
• Rails Envy – Excellent resource for advanced Rails programmers.
• The Rails Way – Instructional Web site for learning the "best practices" in Rails application design.
• Ruby Inside – A very informative blog listing the happenings and new applications emerging in the Ruby community.
• Ruby Underground – Contains information for advanced Ruby programmers.
• Ruby on Rails Security Blog – Focuses on developing security apps with Rails.
• Web On Rails – Resource for advanced Rails programmers.
• Riding Rails – The official Rails blog.
• Ruby On Rails Blog – Contains multiple instructional Rails articles and useful links.

Forums

Sometimes we get so stuck, that the only place we can turn to is our all-knowing peers. Here are a few online communities ready to help you out.

• Ruby Forum: Ruby on Rails – Extremely active forum containing everything on Ruby.
• Rails Forum – A great source for helping you debug your apps.
• TextDrive Community Forum/RubyOnRails – An alternative Rails forum.
• #rubyonrails – Rails IRC chat.

Cheat Sheets

If you're the type of coder that likes to tackle multiple projects and different languages at a time, you might find yourself confusing the different syntaxes. Here are a few cheat sheets to keep you on track.

• RubyOnRails-Cheetsheet – A 14 page Rails cheat sheet (PDF).
• InVisible Ruby On Rails Reference – Example driven Rails cheat sheet.
• Ruby on Rails Cheat Sheet Collectors Edition – A simple Rails cheat sheet with examples.
• Ruby Cheatsheet – A basic Ruby cheat sheet listing all of the most used features (PDF).
• Ruby QuickRef – Example driven Ruby cheat sheet.

API

If you're unsure how operate a particular method or would like to know the capabilities of a particular class check out these documents.

• RDoc Documentation – Ruby's core API.
• Ruby Standard Library Documentation – Ruby's stdlib API.
• Rails Framework Documentation – Rails API.
• Ruby on Rails Manual – Rails API.

Miscellaneous

Our list wouldn't be complete if we left out these Web sites.

Code

If you want to check out what everyone else is doing with Rails, these Web sites are for you.

• DZone Snippets: Rails – Rails snippets.
• Ruby Forge Snippets – Ruby snippets.
• RubyForge – The open source Rails Web site.
• RubyRoll – Displays recent articles from popular Rails blogs and resources.
• Plugins in Ruby on Rails – Directions for installing Rails plugins. Includes extensive list of plugin repositories.
• Agile Web Development Plugins – Nearly 600 Rails plugins.

Other

Here are some of our favorite links illustrating why Rails is such a solid language.

• Ten Reasons Ruby Is Cool – A programmer gives 10 reasons why Ruby is their programming language of choice. (Part 2.)
• Ruby From Other Languages – Compare Ruby to other programming languages.
• Working With Rails – Maintains a database of Rails programmers, projects and their Web sites.
• HappyCodr – A showcase for Web sites designed with Rails.

Sources

Thanks to the following Web sites for providing many of the links we've listed in this article.

• Ruby on Rails
• Getting started with Ruby on Rails
• Ruby on Rails Resources
• Ruby on Rails: An extensive roundup of resources, projects, books, links, hosts and more
• Top list of Ruby on Rails resources

Related Articles:

Introducing Ruby on Rails Part One

Introducing Ruby on Rails Part Two

A Hype Free Introduction to AJAX

RIA Meets SOA