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by rodney ramdas.
Original Post: So you want to be a a Rails hacker
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Getting started is hard, I know. So here’s my advice. It’s not worth a penny but it might help. Read on.
Before you start, well, you have to go into some sort of Zen retreat.
You have to rid yourself of all legacy notions you might have about writing software. Leave you best practices behind you. If you’re into database development already forget your ERD’s, db enforced foreign key constraints and row-level triggers. Forget about your materialized views and such. And forget about DBA’s and their salaries, with Rails you are in control of the database.
Now, have a look around you. Is Rails really what you want ? I mean there’s also Django you know and it’s not too bad. It was extracted from real life like Rails and it has a vibrant and caring community. If you actually love Java why not try Grails ? If you’re more of an adventurous person did you consider Seaside ? You will earn so many bonus points for becoming a Smalltalk hacker if you do.
What I’m saying Rails is not one of a kind, you have options, you can make a choice. Just don’t choose anything resembling Perl’s Template Toolkit or Mason or even php with Smarty , that’s just so not cool at the moment. ( if you don’t care about ‘cool’ by all means do check them out).
Next pick up the Pickaxe or Ruby for Rails, preferably both. Rails is quite intimate with Ruby (duh) and you should understand some of it before you go blasting of. I really like “Ruby for Rails” , but the Pickaxe is my standard desk reference. Apart from that you should own 2 copies of Test Driven Development and if you feel like spending get a copy of the Pragmatic Programmer and perhaps Practices of an Agile Developer as well. Rails is all about TDD and Agile development. You will love Kent Beck’s book. Seriously. If you’ve never done TDD it’s an eye opener.
Also try to get into the habit of buying pdf version of books you want. At any point I’ll have multiple pdf’s open so I can quickly glance at them for inspiration or as a reference.
Now what, ah, yes, get a mac. Not because they look cool or anything but get it because you can use the text editor TextMate. TextMate is a Rails’ progger main tool, it’s text editing on steroids and again you will love it.
On the other hand I am hearing good things about “RadRails:http://www.radrails.org/ as well but it’s just not my cup of tea if you know what I mean. To be honest if Ubuntu had TextMate I would probably switch to Ubuntu (*gasp(), “Are you serious ?”)
Ok, you have the basics. Next, buy the 2nd edition of Agile Web Developement with Rails which at this point you can only get as a Beta Book pdf. Don’t buy the old one, it will frustrate you, things are done differently now and you’re better of with the beta book. I believe at this point the Beta Book has everything the first edition had but updated with the latest and greatest.
Before you start installing and banging away on that keyboard, read it first. I never read a book to learn about something while sitting behind a computer. I read the whole thing first and then I try to come up with a project of my own to test what I’ve learned. But we’re not going into the whole “how do I learn a new language/framework” debate right now. Do whatever works for you. I actually hated the tutorial section of the agile Rails book. But I’m like that, I hate what other people seem to love.
You can get help you know, at this point. If you’re stuck on a concept or something, Get yourself acquainted with IRC and join #rubyonrails . Now I agree at this point #rubyonrails is extremely noisy but there are some rather knowledgeable and helpful people out there who if you ask the right ( i.e intelligent ) question will help you out. Look for people like bitsweat (Jeremy Kemper), technoweenie (Rick Olson), noradio (Marcel Molina jr.), kevinclarke (Kevin Clarke) and ezmobius (Ezra Zygmuntovicz) ,just to name a few. Oh and DHH is nextangle but I don’t think he hangs out much in #rubyonrails these days.
Right, so you have now entered the Rails domain and you are on a learning frenzy. But it might not be enough. You might need more help. Luckily for us you can get “formal” training from a number of well-regarded teachers these days. Geoffrey Grosenbach, of RoR podcast fame is teaching all over the globe it seems and the Pragmatic Studio looks really good as well. If you want to emerge yourself in 4 days of nothing but Rails try the Big Nerd Ranch Rails course with David Black.
Back to building your Rails toolset. Couple of sites you need to have on speed-dial:
1. api.rubyonrails.com , yes it’s incomplete, yes, it’s interface is arcane, but it’s the best we have and you feel you can make it better, please do
2. dev.rubyonrails.com, this is not the place to ask you’re questions about how to use feautures of Rails. Use it to browse the Rails source , read about enhancements and keep track of bugs. I repeat : it is not for getting support.
Work with all the above for a while. Mingle with the Rails crowd, feel that spirit that emerges for the Rails community. Now, at some point you might have Rails Core ambitions, i.e you might want to write a patch or more. Be advised: you have to look like a pouting artsy wanker before they let you on. They might let you blog on their weblog but mostly it’s all about looks, other than an extreme makeover I’m not sure what I can recommend in that area. Seriously, Rails Core is cool and if you can contribute please do.
Well this should help you get started on you path to Rails Enlightenment. It’s a fun journey, for some even life-altering. I hope this was helpful to you, young paduan, but now, be on your way, Rails awaits.
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