Learn Ruby on Rails: Book One - Version 4.0.0 - 25 November 2016

Nov 2, 2026

Uploaded by Rowan

This book presents a structured introduction to Ruby on Rails, framing the learning journey with clear expectations for what learners will gain across the series. It covers core web concepts and the technologies surrounding Rails, explains what Rails is from multiple perspectives, and outlines why Rails and Ruby are effective choices. It also addresses practical challenges, learning strategies for getting help, and planning and managing product development from user stories to project workflows.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages165

Reading Time6 h 56 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

1 Free Offer and More

2 Introduction

3 Concepts

4 What is Rails?

5 Why Rails?

6 Rails Challenges

7 Get Help When You Need It

8 Plan Your Product

9 Manage Your Project

10 Mac, Linux, or Windows

11 Terminal Unix

2 Learn Ruby on Rails: Book One Version 4.0.0, 25 November 2016 Daniel Kehoe ii Contents 1 Free Offer and More 1 Get Book Two ............................. 1 Get the Videos ............................. 1 The Online and Ebook Versions ................... 2 2 Introduction 3 Is It for You? ............................. 4 What To Expect ............................ 4 What’s in Book One ....................... 5 What’s in Book Two ...................... 6 A Warning About Links ..................... 6 What Comes Next ........................ 6 Versions ............................. 7 Staying In Touch ........................ 7 A Note to Reviewers and Teachers ............... 7 Using the Book in the Classroom ................ 8 Let’s Get Started ........................ 8 iv CONTENTS 3 Concepts 11 How the Web Works ......................... 11 Programming Languages ....................... 15 Ruby and JavaScript .......................... 15 JavaScript and JQuery ......................... 16 JQuery .............................. 16 Full-Stack JavaScript ...................... 17 Front and Back Ends ......................... 18 Rails 5 ................................. 19 JavaScript Frameworks ........................ 20 AngularJS and Ember.js ..................... 20 React .............................. 21 4 What is Rails? 23 Rails as a Community ......................... 24 Six Perspectives on Rails ....................... 24 Web Browser Perspective .................... 25 Programmer Perspective .................... 25 Software Architect Perspective ................. 25 Gem Hunter Perspective .................... 26 Time Traveler Perspective ................... 27 Tester Perspective ........................ 27 Understanding Stacks ......................... 28 Full Stack ............................ 28 CONTENTS v Rails Stacks ........................... 30 5 Why Rails? 33 Why Ruby? .............................. 33 Why Rails? .............................. 35 Rails Guiding Principles ....................... 36 Rails is Opinionated ....................... 36 Rails is Omakase ........................ 37 Convention Over Con􀀂guration ................. 37 Don’t Repeat Yourself ..................... 38 Where Rails Gets Complicated .................... 39 When Rails has No Opinion .................. 39 Omakase But Substitutions Are Allowed ............ 39 Conventions or Magic? ..................... 40 DRY to Obscurity ........................ 40 6 Rails Challenges 41 A List of Challenges ......................... 42 It is dif􀀂cult to install Ruby................... 42 Rails is a nightmare on Windows................ 42 Why do I have to learn Git? It is dif􀀂cult............ 43 Why worry about versions? ................... 43 Do I really need to learn about testing? ............. 43 Rails error reporting is cryptic.................. 44 There is too much magic..................... 44 vi CONTENTS It is dif􀀂cult to grasp MVC and REST.............. 44 Rails contains lots of things I don’t understand......... 45 There is too much to learn.................... 45 It is dif􀀂cult to 􀀂nd up-to-date advice.............. 46 It is dif􀀂cult to know what gems to use............. 46 Rails changes too often...................... 47 It is dif􀀂cult to transition from tutorials to building real applications.......................... 47 I’m not sure where the code goes................ 47 People like me don’t go into programming........... 48 7 Get Help When You Need It 49 Getting Help With Rails ........................ 49 References ............................... 50 RailsGuides ........................... 50 Cheatsheets ........................... 51 API Documentation ....................... 51 Meetups, Hack Nights, and Workshops ................ 51 Pair Programming .........................

FAQs

What does Book One aim to help readers learn?

It teaches the fundamentals of Ruby on Rails and the surrounding concepts needed to start building real applications, while also setting expectations for what comes next in the series.

Which topics about Rails are covered in Book One?

Book One explains how the web works, what Rails is from several viewpoints, why Rails and Ruby are useful, and the guiding principles that shape Rails development.

How does the book help readers overcome difficulties?

It lists common challenges learners face, explains where to get help, and provides guidance on staying up to date and learning the supporting tools and environments.

Nov 2, 2026

Uploaded by Rowan