Learn professional-grade web application development with Ruby on Rails
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 6th Ed. Application Development 03
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Learn to Make a Real Web Application
In the Ruby on Rails Tutorial
Tutorial
03
in the
Application Development
Series
With the foundations laid by the previous Learn Enough tutorials, you’re now ready to learn how to develop larger software systems, including dynamic web applications. You’ll start by learning either Python or Ruby (or both), using them for general-purpose programming and to make a simple web application. With Python, you’ll also learn key Python tools for the fast-growing field of data science. Learning Ruby, meanwhile, leads naturally into the Ruby on Rails Tutorial, the leading introduction to web development with Rails. In a final optional tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Action Cable to make real-time web apps that respond instantly to user input. By the time you finish these courses, you'll be ready to start work as a freelancer, get a job as a developer, or start a web-based company of your own.
Professional-grade web development
Building a real web application
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial teaches you how to develop custom web applications with the popular Ruby on Rails web framework. Since its launch in 2010, the Ruby on Rails Tutorial has been the leading introduction to web development with Rails.
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial is designed to give you a thorough introduction to web application development, including a basic grounding in Ruby, Rails, HTML & CSS, databases, version control, testing, and deployment—sufficient to launch you on a career as a web developer or technology entrepreneur. If you already know web development, this book will quickly teach you the essentials of the Rails framework, including MVC and REST, generators, migrations, routing, and embedded Ruby.
App development principles
The basics of working with Rails
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial takes an integrated approach to web development by building three example applications of increasing sophistication, starting with a minimal hello app, a slightly more capable toy app, and a real sample app. The emphasis throughout the tutorial is on general principles, so you will have a solid foundation no matter what kinds of web applications you want to build.
Setting up your dev environment
Web development requires tools
In the first chapter, you’ll get started with Ruby on Rails by installing all the necessary software and by setting up your development environment. You’ll then create your first Rails application. The Rails Tutorial emphasizes good software development practices, so immediately after creating your fresh new Rails project you’ll put it under version control with Git. And, believe it or not, in the chapter you’ll even put your first app on the wider web by deploying it to production.
Simple toy application
It might not be pretty, but it works
In Chapter 2, you’ll make a second project, whose purpose is to demonstrate the basic workings of a Rails application. To get up and running quickly, you’ll build this toy app using an automatic code generator; because this code is both ugly and complex, Chapter 2 will focus on interacting with the toy app through its URLs using a web browser.
Putting everything together
Putting all your knowledge into action
The rest of the tutorial focuses on developing a single large real sample application, writing all the code from scratch. You’ll develop the sample app using a combination of mockups, test-driven development (TDD), and integration tests. You’ll get started in Chapter 3 by creating static pages and then add a little dynamic content. You’ll take a quick detour in Chapter 4 to learn a little about the Ruby language underlying Rails. Then, in Chapter 5 through Chapter 12, you’ll complete the foundation for the sample application by making a site layout, a user data model, and a full registration and authentication system (including account activation and password resets). Finally, in Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 you’ll add microblogging and social features to make a working example site.
The result is a thorough grounding in web application development that will serve you well as a technical manager, entrepreneur, or professional software developer.
Happy people
saying nice things!
Jimmy Wales Founder, Wikipedia
Q: What is Jimmy Wales' favorite book?
A: It changes often. At the moment, it’s Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl. :)
Quora link
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Michael Hartl is one of the best educators around when it comes to web development. I have been following him for a long time, and everything he produces is top quality. If you are looking for a quick way to become a thorough and productive professional web developer, Hartl’s books are a great place to start.
— Abram Bailey
Hi, my name is Philip, and I’m a beginning learner of web development. I’ve dabbled in small ways in Ruby/Rails for about a year and a half. Occasionally, I write ruby scripts to solve problems at my job. I also dabble in learning: JavaScript, Ember, more Ruby/Rails, brief intro readings into Scala.
I’ve tried Codeschool, Codecademy, and I’ll stop there, so you don’t spend the next 3 hours reading all the different learning resources I’ve tried.
Ruby on Rails Tutorial (Rails 5) is undoubtedly, the most effective and educational resource I’ve ever come across when it comes to learning anything about web development or writing any code on any level.
Here’s what you seem to understand that everyone else just gets wrong: There’s a big spectrum between the very beginner basics: declaring variables, to voodoo, magical, incantational trickery of witchcraft, like building your own web server.
Almost all tutorials make this mistake. The first couple “lessons” are good for people who don’t even have a clue what computer programming is and then suddenly, there’s a big jump to what seem to be concepts that only seasoned developers have mastered.
Thanks for such a great, educational guide in Ruby on Rails.
— Philip
About the Author
Michael Hartl
Michael Hartl is the creator of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial, one of the leading introductions to web development, and is cofounder and principal author at Learn Enough. Previously, he was a physics instructor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a graduate of Harvard College, has a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech, and is an alumnus of the Y Combinator entrepreneur program.
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