views:

96

answers:

6

Is there a book about RoR for someone that has little or no understanding of Ruby?

Although RoR is a great reason to start learning Ruby, I'd be bored out of my pants if I first have to read a full book on Ruby and then a book about RoR.

Something that demonstrates the basic principles of both Ruby and RoR would be an ideal intro to this world.

+3  A: 

Agile Web Development with Rails (Thomas, Heinemeier Hansson) is a good intro to rails, and introduces Ruby gently along the way, you don't need to know ruby to read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Web-Development-Rails-Programmers/dp/097669400X

Michael Neale
I bought this book from http://pragprog.com/ and have gotten free updates every time they change the book. It's my go-to reference for the basics as well as some more advanced topics. +1.
Austin Fitzpatrick
There is a newer edition of this book: http://pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with-rails-third-edition
baijiu
this was my first book about both Rails and Ruby, and it was a great intro.
btelles
A: 

It is wise to first learn the (basics of a) language before using more advanced frameworks in order to fully make use of the framework. Same goes for Ruby and RoR.

Personally, I had the same problem. But I found a nice Ruby book (Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book, explaining Ruby in a none/less boring way. I thought it was actually fun to read!

After learning the basics of Ruby you can start looking at the (somewhat) official guides. They are easy to understand and shows a lot of RoR basics (and more advanced stuff).

Veger
+1  A: 

AWDWR is a good place to start. A couple other books worth looking at are Simply Rails 2 and Foundation Rails 2. Veger does have a good point too; without a certain level of Ruby knowledge you will struggle in some areas with Rails.

Andy Gaskell
+1  A: 

I would personally recommend checking out why's Poignant Guide to Ruby: http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/ first to get familiar with ruby, it makes it entertaining to learn. Then for Rails I would recommend Agile Web Development with Rails.

hmind
A: 

Simply Rails 2 By Patrick Lenz is a good Rails introduction for someone with very little Ruby experience. But you will need another Ruby and Rails book or resource to really master both.

Steve Wilhelm
A: 

A good free alternative is Ruby on Rails Tutorial. It's a work in progress, but even the first 6 chapters helped me out a bunch.

funkymunky