This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by Obie Fernandez. Original Post: The Best Ruby on Rails Information Available Feed Title: Obie On Rails (Has It Been 9 Years Already?) Feed URL: http://jroller.com/obie/feed/entries/rss Feed Description: Obie Fernandez talks about life as a technologist, mostly as ramblings about software development and consulting. Nowadays it's pretty much all about Ruby and Ruby on Rails. Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by Obie Fernandez Latest Posts From Obie On Rails (Has It Been 9 Years Already?)

There aren't many books out there about Ruby on Rails yet, but that shouldn't stop you from learning all about Rails from the excellent work that authors and bloggers across the internet have put into their Ruby on Rails tutorials and blogs.

The following lists are your guide to the best Rails material out there. (Last updated April 12, 2006)

Pretty much all of us Rails people constantly refer to the official Rails API documentation while we're working.

The Best Ruby on Rails Tutorials

1. Really Getting Started in Rails Despite being written back all the way back in January 2005, Amy Hoy's short and sweet intro still manages to be relevant
2. Rails for Designers Kevin Clark's great introductory article aimed at the creative types.
3. Basic Tutorial on Ruby on Rails This barebones, wiki-based intro is kept up-to-date and is useful. Also has a Russian translation.
4. ObjectiveView Ruby on Rails Introduction This pragmatic introduction, written by yours truly, focuses on the essentials needed to get up and running with Rails quickly, with emphasis on rake and migrations. Lots of code samples in this one.
5. Ruby on Rails on Oracle: A Simple Tutorial Richard Monson-Haefel, famous J2EE author from back in the day, is back in the spotlight with this official article written for the Oracle Technology Network.

The Best Ruby on Rails-focused Blogs

I used a simple formula to create this list. I went through my extensive subscription list of Ruby on Rails blogs on Bloglines and picked the ones from which I've saved the most entries. These are just a small portion of the Rails weblogs that feature valuable information on a regular basis.

1. ~:caboose The original "elite" social group for Rails hackers has a group blog that I'm honored to post to sometimes.
2. Tampering with Technology David Goodlad's experiences developing with Ruby on Rails, with smatterings of random tech-related info.
3. Ruby and Rails jobs Subscribe to it and see how the amount of job listings for Rails jobs all around the world is growing every week.
4. Relevance Justin Gehtland and his business partners deliver hard-hitting Rails commentary and techniques
5. Nuby on Rails One of the greatest Rails blogs, by Rails podcast producer Geoffrey Grosenbach.
6. RealityForge.org Great technical information, like loading binary data into fixtures.
7. RailsExpress.blog Acknowledged Rails performance expert Dr. Stefan Kaes gives his brainy explanations of Rails performance subjects.
8. Mephisto Rick "Technoweenie" shares his inspired Rails projects and infinite Rails wisdom with the masses
9. OnRails.org Daniel Wanja with lots of good Rails info to check out
10. Karmacrash Tim Case, passionate Ruby on Rails hacker
11. 6 short of a dozen Advanced Rails tips and techniques from Bob Silva
12. Brainspl.at Ezra "ezmobius" Zygmuntowicz is one of the Rails communities pioneer members

The Best Older Ruby on Rails Articles 

These links are to articles that are old enough to exclude newer important Rails developments such as the migrations API and should not be used by absolute beginners wanting to teach themselves Rails.

1. Rolling with Ruby on Rails Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 These articles by Curt Hibbs (author of the 1-click Ruby Install for Windows) have been a couple of the most popular items on the O'Reilly ONLamp since they were published.
2. Four Days on Rails (English PDF) and (Spanish PDF) Well-presented material that probably won't actually take you four days to review.
3. Fast-track your Web apps with Ruby on Rails - This article claims to be intermediate, but given the emphasis on scaffolding I don't think so. Good for beginners nonetheless.