This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by David Heinemeier Hansson. Original Post: Third and final beta of the Rails book Feed Title: Loud Thinking Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LoudThinking Feed Description: All about the full-stack, web-framework Rails for Ruby and on putting it to good effect with Basecamp Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by David Heinemeier Hansson Latest Posts From Loud Thinking

Dave Thomas has released the third and final beta of the Rails book. It's heading for the publishers some time next week and should be available in hardcopy around the beginning of August. If all goes well, Agile Web Development with Rails should be here soon indeed.

It's been quite a long process for something that was meant as a quick tutorial-type book at no more than two hundred pages. But what a product coming out in the end. Dave Thomas has been doing an outstanding job on giving almost all corners of the framework at least a cursory overview and combining it with easy-to-follow examples. With excellent help from Leon Breedt, Mike Clark, Thomas Fuchs, and Andreas Schwarz. While its no reference manual, it has certainly turned into an essential reference point.

And the timing has been great. Not only did the beta books hit just as people were crying out the loudest for more documentation, but the final copy will hit just as Rails reaches 1.0. I'm really happy to have been a part of the creation of this defining work. The uptake of Rails will no doubt be helped immensely but this and hopefully the book will also pave the way for the long string of other titles announced.

Once again, thanks a bunch to the ~2,500 people who bought into the idea of the beta book. Hopefully this will encourage even more publishers to try out the format and reinforce the few others already doing it in that it's a great idea.