Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications
by Patrick Lenz
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Book Summary Information
Author: Patrick LenzEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-02-06
ISBN: 0975841955
Number of pages: 447
Publisher: SitePoint
Book Reviews of Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications
Book Review: The best of the current crop of Ruby and Rails introductory texts
Summary: 5 Stars
All I can say is WOW!!! I am a Ruby and Rails Newbie and I have been searching for an introductory text to both Ruby and Rails for several weeks. For context, I have moderate programming language (but minimal web development) experience. I purchased the following texts (in order): Agile Web Development With Rails, Rails Solutions, Ruby For Rails, and Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications. Each has it's strengths, and I am sure that I will be able to draw something of significance from each; however, after working through much of Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications, this is clearly the introductory text I have been searching for.
The book provides a well balanced presentation and sequencing of Ruby and Rails basics followed by practical application within "Shovell" - your very own Digg clone sample application. Some key topics covered in the book:
* Installation -- Complete instructions are provided for installing and configuring Ruby, Rails, and MySQL on Windows XP, Linux and Mac OS X.
* Ruby basics -- this topic is presented as a minimal introduction with additional information provided as the text progresses. In fact, the entire text progresses in easily digestible, but meaningful increments which goes a long way to avoid information overload. Additionally, the Interactive Ruby shell (irb) is introduced and used to allow hands-on experimentation with the language features that are being explained. I found this very helpful in learning the basics as it allowed me to play around with the language features and answer my own questions through experimentation.
* MVC architecture -- the book does good job of introducing and explaining the Model-View-Controller architecture and it's implementation within Rails without getting bogged down in extraneous theory or details. This is probably too light for experienced developers, but in my opinion, just right for the newbie.
* Rails 1.2 basic features and conventions -- this is a big deal as newbies are likely to be stymied by warnings and errors associated with superceded pre-1.2 features. I know this all too well as (with other books -notably Rails Solutions) I have pulled my hair out trying figure out why I didn't get the same results that were printed in the book. Thankfully, Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications spares the newbie from this added complication. Like the presentation of Ruby basics, the Rails introduction includes the use of the Rails console which is a great way to learn the basics by "geting your hands dirty" with Rails.
* Generators and Migrations -- after working through the manual creation of a few database, model and view examples (using direct SQL, and the Rails console) the book introduces the use of some key productivity tools provided by Rails -namely generators and migrations. This sequence helped me to better appreciate both the benefits (and some limitations) of these Rails features.
* AJAX -- Like the Ruby and Rails topics, AJAX is covered in a very accessible manner -- explaining what it is, how it works, and how to use it to do meaningful things in Rails (all without overloading the newbie with complex theory, jargon or head-spinning detail). I know I will need to get a text on AJAX at some point -- not to understand it or to figure out ow to use it, but to figure out how to get *more* out of it -- however, for now I am good with AJAX for what I want to do with Rails.
* Testing -- Like the other topics, the book introduces Rails unit, functional and integration test features without diverging into a heavy text on testing. The author makes it clear that he is not trying to demonstrate Test Driven Design, but instead is trying to (1) emphasize the importance of testing, and (2) present an accessible approach to testing for the beginner. For me, he has succeeded -- the subject was presented in a manner that made it seem like a natural extension of programming with Rails and not another obstacle to my learning process. Net-net: I'm convinced that the incremental testing approach using Rails automated test features is so easy that it's a no brainer.
* Dynamic web site development -- while the book does not claim to teach this explicitly, that is exactly what you are doing when developing web applications with rails. All the elements are there: HTML, CSS, XML, databases, and server and client code. I previously tried to learn dynamic web site development using PHP, HTML, MySQL and CSS, but frankly got bogged down in PHP syntax while also trying get my head around learning all those different elements (HTML, MySQL and CSS) simultaneously. I am not experiencing that problem using this book. It's probably a combination of the excellent text, as well as Ruby/Rails -- Rails Helpers minimize HTML and MySQL learning curve, and embedded Ruby is a lot easier to get my head around than PHP.
There is certainly more to the book, but these are the essentials as I see it.
To top it off, all of this material is delivered in entertaining and consistently accessible prose. To be balanced (but in no way qualifying my enthusiastic endorsement) the text is not perfect --there are a handful of code and text errors -- so check the book's sitepoint page for errata.
My game plan is now set: (A) work through the basics with Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications, (B) follow with Agile Web Development With Rails to learn how to leverage Rails productivity features, and (C) utilize the other texts as supplemental references. Thanks to Patrick Lenz and Sitepoint this Newbie is now on his way to Ruby and Rails proficiency!
UPDATE TO INITIAL REVIEW:
Several months after submitting this review my perspective has not changed -- even after reading several newer Ruby and Rails books. However, I would supplement the reading list and offer the following as my choice for the definitive Ruby on Rails canon (for learning and becoming productive with Rails):
1. Best Rails beginner book: Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications, by Patrick Lenz
2. Best Rails intermediate book: Agile Web Development With Rails, by Dave Thomas and David Heinemeier Hansson
3. Best Rails reference book: Practical Rails Projects, by Eldon Alameda
4. Best Ruby learning and reference book: The Ruby Way, by Hal Fulton
I am now on my third Rails application and find myself consistently referring to #2 for Rails best practices, #3 for RESTful design/development guidance & practical solutions to common programming challenges, and #4 for hardcore Ruby guidance.
Summary of Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications
Want to learn all about Ruby on Rails, the web application framework that is inspiring developers around the world?
This practical hands-on guide for first-time Ruby on Rails programmers will walk you through installing the required software on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer. And before you get coding, an entire chapter is devoted to object oriented programming in Ruby, so you'll be completely confident with the Ruby language before you begin working with Rails.
The example application that the book builds - a user-generated news web site - is built upon with each following chapter, and concepts such as sessions, cookies and basic AJAX usage are gradually introduced. Different aspects of Rails, such as ActiveRecord, migrations and automated testing are explored with each feature that is added to the application.
The book finishes with chapters on debugging, benchmarking and deployment to a live web server.
By the end of the book, you'll have built a fully-featured Web 2.0 application and deployed it to the Web. And all code is up-to-date for Rails 1.2, so you can begin coding immediately with the latest version of Rails.
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