Learning Ruby On Rails

Question

I want to learn Ruby on Rails. I've done some work with various java frameworks but I can no longer ignore everyone RoR craze. I did some looking around and found that a lot of people recommend Agile Web Development with Rails as a good starting point. Would you agree? I was looking on the site for it (http://pragprog.com/titles/rails4/agile-web-development-with-rails) and I see that there's an edition for Rails 2.x and one for Rails 3.x. What do you recommend? I'm not sure when I'll get started on this but do you recommend going for the Rails 3.x version? When will 3 be out?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Rails 3 is still in development, but both the code and the API are pretty stable. For learning purposes, it's more than usable now. By the time you have a good handle on Rails, Rails 3 will probably have been released, or at least in a late release candidate. Rails 2, on the other hand, will be declining. Go for the new version.

EDIT: Just checked, and the first release candidate is out!

Answer 2

I recommend you to learn rails3. Rails3 is pretty beautify than past version.

e.g. rails s instead of ./script/server

e.g. rails g instead of ./script/generate

...

and rails3 support more convenient gem manage - bundle install

You can watch railscasts from ryan.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I highly recommend Agile Web Development with Rails. You should go for the version that covers Rails 3. Buy the beta book from their site (http://pragprog.com) and you'll get free e-book updates for life (of that version of the book).

I'd also recommend http://railstutorial.org/book You can pay for the PDF version or access the free version online.

Answer 4

Rails 3 has since been released: Rails 3.0: It's ready!