Beginning Rails

What Hacker News says

1. ApolloRisingOct 2009
   There are quite a few choices. You won't go wrong with any of these from amazon. (URLS provided by amazon, not a spam or affiliate link)

   Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) (Paperback) http://amzn.com/1590597664

   Simply Rails 2 by Patrick Lenz Permalink: http://amzn.com/0980455200

   Head First Rails: A learner's companion to Ruby on Rails by David Griffiths Permalink: http://amzn.com/0596515774

   Beginning Rails: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) by Jeffrey Allan Hardy Permalink: http://amzn.com/1590596862

   I suggest you pick up a version control book as well: svn or git from pragmatic programmers, may as well get this part done early so it becomes transparent.

   Good luck

   Show morethread
2. raghusApr 2008
   If you're just getting started with Rails, I'll recommend Beginning Rails by Jeffrey Hardy (who now works for 37s).

   The only caveat is that it was written for Rails 1.2.3. The book's site is http://beginningrails.com/ and the author replies regularly to questions about the book (or Rails in general) over at http://groups.google.com/group/beginning-rails

   thread
3. raghusJan 2008
   I strongly recommend Beginning Rails by Jeffrey Hardy. I liked it even more than AWDWR. Here's the companion site: http://beginningrails.com/. The author is active on the Google mailing list for this book as well.
   thread
4. petercooperAug 2009
   I own almost every Rails book in one format or another (I run a top Ruby blog so I get them to review) and... it depends what you're trying to do.

   The Rails Way kicks ass once you already know Rails to a certain extent - it's definitely not a first book. It's a "bible" type book and is stuck somewhere back in Rails 2.1 land, I believe, but most of it still applies.

   AWDwR is reasonable and mostly up to date (focused at Rails 2.2, as far as I recall) and particularly suited for people who are totally new to Rails.

   My recommendation for people who are new to both Ruby and Rails is Foundation Rails 2 by Eldon Alameda as it has a 30 page primer to Ruby included and spends a long time "touring" Rails. It also covers RSpec which, given you're Agile, might be of significant interest to you.

   Books I'd steer away from either because they're out of date or just plain bad IMHO would be all of the Packt books and Beginning Rails from Apress (the latter, hopefully, will be brought up to date in a 2nd edition).

   Show morethread