Ruby on Rails is an important, open-source web development framework for the Ruby programming language, using a Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern and adhering to the Agile Manifesto for software development, the framework has become popular with developers and clients alike.
Ruby on Rails’ importance and use is growing. Shopping cart applications Shopify and Spree, as examples, use the framework; and Ruby on Rails developers often earn $80,000 to $120,000 per year as full time employees and between $80 and $120 per hour as freelancers, based on a review of recent job postings.
So if you’re a web designer or developer wanting to expand your skill set and increase your marketability, learning to code Ruby on Rails might be worth the effort. But where will you start? Right here. Below, I have listed ten basic Ruby on Rails-related resources that I believe are essential for starting to learn this framework.
1. Mr. Neighborly’s Humble Little Ruby Book
This is a Ruby resource, but what is RoR without Ruby? According to the book’s website it is “an up to date book on Ruby programming, written in a style described as ‘a beautiful display of pragmatically chunky bacon, wrapped in a nutshell.’”
2. Getting Started with Rails from RailsGuides
This basic guide from RubyOnRail.org is specifically designed to get you up and running in Ruby on Rails. It describes installation, basic Rails application layout, MVC architecture, RESTful design, and how to actually get your own Rails application going.
3. Learn Ruby on Rails: The Ultimate Beginner’s Tutorial by Patrick Lenz
Lenz is the author of Simply Rails 2.0 and an ubër experienced, Germany-based web developer.
4. Webmonkey’s Ruby on Rails for Beginners
Although Ruby on Rails for Beginners is an article, it is also a wiki, so that you get the best original author Paul Adams had to offer plus the wisdom of the crowd.
5. Railscasts
Think of it like a weekly appointment. Just show up, learn something, and get back to work. Oh, but hurry, at the time I was writing this post, there had already been 191 episodes.
6. A Many-to-Many Tutorial for Rails
First published in September 2005, this 13 page PDF tutorial is a step-by-step, MVC example that teaches Rails by having you build a finance application.
7. Introduction to Ruby on Rails Video
Watch John Barton’s introduction to his Rails presentation from a Melbourne Ruby Nuby Night. It is worth the eight odd minutes, and you will be encouraged.
8. Codepath’s Ruby on Rails Screencast – Iteration 1
This video is dated and does not represent that latest version of the framework, but the video features David Heinemeier Hansson, who is the Rails inventor, and a really cool introduction song.
9. Ruby on Rails: Talk - a Google Group
Even if you just watched the introduction to resource No. 8, you know that the aforementioned David Heinemeier Hansson has recommended using groups like this one when you are trying to learn a new programming language and get stuck.
10. Connor Zwick’s Learn Ruby on Rails from Scratch
This is the first in a short series of RoR tutorials that provide a nice foundation.
BONUS: Ecommerce Developer
Ecommerce Developer has also created a new Ruby on Rails screencast series featuring Scott Meade, a Colorado-based Rails developer. So come back often for updated screencasts.
