Need a book on rails - does it need to cover 2.0?

Question

This is similar to a previous question on Rails Books, but I'm looking for a little more detail on something that was brought up in that thread.

I'm starting a project using Rails 2.0 next week, and I'd like a book to read to get going. Dead-tree format is a must, this is for the bus.

Agile Web Development with Rails seems to be the defacto standard, but it covers rails 1.2, and 2.0 changes a bunch, apparently.

Am I better off buying a book on rails 2.0 (Simply Rails 2 seems like a promising candidate, but I'm definitely open to other suggestions)? Or should I go with Agile?

I'm totally new at Ruby and Rails. I know a fair amount of python and a little bit of web development in .NET

Answer 1

Agile Web Development with Rails, Third Edition it covers rails 2.0, buy the PDF and print, get the beta PDF right now, and the print in a couple of months...

Answer 2

I like The Rails Way.

Advanced Rails Recipes also covers Rails 2.0

Answer 3

The changes in 2.0 will break the code but not your understanding. I'd focus less on the version than on the quality of the book. You're not going to be using the book as a reference on the bus so you should look for a book that helps you with understanding areas you are weak on.

What's your background? Are you already familiar with earlier rails or are you starting from scratch?

Answer 4

To add a little detail:

I liked The Art of Rails - interesting conceptual level explanations with good code examples and lots of detail - terse and well edited - covers RSpec.

I recommend Professional Ruby on Rails by Wrox to anyone who asks me for a starting out book. It deals with more than just rails which of course you need just in order to do rails. Covers subversion. Another really well edited terse book. Just the facts.

I disliked The Rails Way - whole sections were just cut and pastes of API documentation, parts of it were good but I felt that most of the book was redundant and unnecessary. Felt to me like there wasn't a forceful enough editor to rein in the author.

The various cookbooks and recipe books are great for finding examples of how to do x. But they would be horrible for reading on the bus (unless you like reading code on the bus - I don't - I want to read it and run it at the same time). I usually find they are a bit weak on the explanation side and don't do a good job of conceptual overview.

Answer 5

I know you asked for a book but you might always want to consider listening to/watching podcasts as well if you have an podcast playing device to take on the bus.

• http://railscasts.com/
• http://www.railsenvy.com/
• http://www.buildingwebapps.com/podcasts

For the most part, the later episodes are about Rails 2.X

Answer 6

Just a practical note about The Rails Way - it's a huge, heavy tome so you probably don't want to be carrying that around every day on the bus.