Starting out with rails. Suggestions for SDKs plug-ins etc?

Question

I have 6 years of C# programming experience and I'm looking to broaden my horizons. I'm going to build a simple web app to demonstrate knowledge of Ruby on Rails so I can get my foot in a place that might want a Rails programmer. It's the hot new thing, so I want to be marketable.

Anyway, I have been playing around with solr and tomcat and I want to use solr as a search engine for a products database. This means that I will be using some java (tomcat and solr) and for the web app I will be using MSSQL because I'm using Windows. A friend suggested that I look into jRuby because if I'm going to be working with tomcat, it makes sense to put it all on one webserver. I want to use Eclipse as my editor. I hear that rails programmers typically use prototype as their java selector tool but I really like jQuery (or even mootools). I have also heard that jRails is something that ties jQuery to my ruby application.

Given that I use tomcat in conjunction with jRuby using Eclipse as the IDE, what would you suggest I use for handling javascript/ajax and what are some useful plug-ins, software, or tips you have for me that can help me get started on the right foot with ruby on rails?

Answer 1

I would stick with jQuery for your JS/ajax. My perception is that the RJS/Prototype is falling out of favor to jQuery but that could be just me. Where jRails would fit in is if you want to use RJS to generate JavaScript from Ruby code. My personal preference is to keep all of my JavaScript in application.js and keep it unobtrusive.

Some plugins I like are Authlogic, Nifty Generators, Paperclip, ssl_requirement, subdomain-fu, and QueryTrace.

A couple good resources for starting out are Rails Guides and Railscasts. I think it's a good idea to learn the language itself before learning the framework, but I'm sure it's possible to develop a simple Rails application with minimal Ruby knowledge.

As for your application stack, I would recommend reconsidering deploying a Rails app to Windows. Even developing a Rails app on Windows will likely be painful. If you can, I'd get a VM (or old machine) running with Ubuntu and use MySQL. If you're looking for a full text search on Rails you could use Thinking Sphinx - here's a Railscast if you're interested. I'd also give a gentle nudge into trying a Text Editor instead a full blown IDE - I like TextMate on OS X and gedit on Linux.

I also had a Microsoft background when I decided to learn Rails. There was a lot for me to take in - Not having the framework pretend the web is stateful (asp.net), learning a new language, learning a new framework, getting stronger css/html/javascript skills, new OSes (OS X and Linux for me), learning new databases. Overall I'm very happy I did. I'm a better developer for it.

Answer 2

If you want to be marketable, I'd start with learning the lowest common denominator, the default Rails stack, to get broad appeal. Then maybe consider acquiring some more niche skills to raise your value to a subset of potential clients/employers.

That pretty much means targeting MRI 1.8.6/7, Rails 2.3.4 (consider learning at least HAML and rspec in addition to erb and test/unit) and MySQL in an Apache *nix world.

I wouldn't recommend learning much about deploying to a Windows stack - the target for servers is overwhelmingly Linux or perhaps some other *nix flavour. For development web server purposes, Mongrel works fine on Windows.

Build on Windows by all means - I do, without too much pain - but be aware that the visible part of the Ruby/Rails community (the people who mostly develop the libraries and frameworks and most of those who write about it online) are predominantly OSX or Linux users, so there's often a delay in the trickle-down to Windows users, especially where OS interaction is called for or where there are compiled elements to libraries. Also, I'm reliably informed that Rails startup is much slower on Windows. I don't want to confirm it personally - I might get upset.

MSSQL works fine with Rails, but I'd be cautious about using any platform-specific features for reasons mentioned above: you're unlikely to find a site that will be happy to deploy to a mixed Win-*nix environment. The MSSQL ActiveRecord code may also not be quite as hardened as MySQL or SQLite - the one bug I ever found in any version of any Rails-related code was in there. That said, if you don't use any MS-specific features you'll find porting easy. But then if you don't use any extra stuff, why not skip it completely? There are enough differences (the query "optimizer" in MySQL for one takes some getting used to) that you're probably better off learning the platform you're most likely to be targeting.

As for Eclipse, it's obviously a mature development environment but I'm not sure how good the Rails plugins are (and as a hostage to Lotus Notes I'm allergic to using Eclipse any more than absolutely necessary). If you can't live without an IDE (and I'd recommend that you try - you'll learn more) then there are several SO questions that cover the alternatives.