[Rails] Re: Suggestions for a non tech guy to teach himself Ruby on

Jrdn wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am not a tech guy by any means. I run a small web app business out
> of NH and would like to teach myself how to create my own apps with
> ruby on rails. I took a basic HTML class in college (Graduated in
> May09), but cant say I remember a whole lot.

Then there's your first step. You must learn HTML and CSS, and be able
to hand-code standards-compliant Web pages, before you even think about
dynamic Web application development.

> I have hired a developer
> to help me with my start up and things have been going well, but I
> would like to be able to build my own applications in my spare time. I
> have heard of people teaching themselves (I believe the creator of
> Ruby on Rails, David taught himself?) and was wondering the best ways
> to go about it? Any must have books?

I'm completely self-taught, but I was exposed to programming concepts
from an early age. I recommend something like Programming Ruby and/or
Try Ruby (both on the Web). You will want to get at least a basic idea
of how the language works before working with Rails. This would also be
a good time to set up a version control system (I recommend Git).

When you're ready to get started with Rails, read the Rails guides at
http://guides.rails.info . Also learn RSpec and Cucumber: you should do
all development test-first. At the same time, learn SQL (Rails will
abstract it, but you still have to understand it) and read about
database normalization.

>
> I have always been a hands on guy so the goal would be to just start
> getting my hands dirty, but need some direction. Any help is much
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Colby

Best,
--
Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
marnen@marnen.org
--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

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