Anatomy of a Web Application
To listen to the lesson, click the Play button on the left. You can also right-click on the download link to save the mp3 file, or you can subscribe in iTunes (just search for Learning Rails).
To read a transcript of the lesson, click the Transcript link on the left.
The heart of the lesson is the audio; these notes are supplementary. So please listen to the audio, or read the transcript, before making use of these notes.
Examples used in the audio program
Here’s some of the examples we use in the show, which may be easier to grasp in printed form:
- If the user types www.BuildingWebApps.com/podcast.html into their browser, they’re asking the server at BuildingWebApps.com to find a file called podcast.html and send the contents of that file to the browser.
- In a Rails application, the request would be written as www.BuildingWebApps.com/podcast, in which podcast is the name of the controller to be invoked
- A Rails URL such as www.BuildingWebApps.com/podcast/show/17 invokes the show action in the podcast controller and passes it the parameter of 17 (presumably the ID for a podcast episode).
- To request all the podcast objects, the controller would execute a statement such as
podcasts = Podcast.find(:all). (Don’t worry about the odd punctuation for now. - To find a particular podcast episode according to its episode number, the show action might execute a statement such as
podcast = Podcast.find_by_episode(2)
For More Information
See the notes for Lesson 1 for pointers to online resources and books about Ruby and Ruby on Rails.
Comments on This Lesson
From: cherrian chin harada Date: 09/21/08 01:13 PM
Subject: Lesson#2
Michael & Christopher, my sincere thanks to you both… Love your lessons. Looking forward to the your next one :-) lesson
From: Charlz Date: 08/08/08 05:05 AM
Subject: Lesson 2
Hope next time we can see some more examples from the audio.
From: Thura Date: 07/20/08 09:21 PM
Subject: Credit to...
Thanks…good concepts/points on ruby on rails.
From: Julio Date: 07/04/08 07:19 PM
Subject: NO much images
I haven’t a great Internet line, so don’t put much images, or maintain one page without them, please…
From: Aron Grinshtein Date: 06/23/08 07:07 AM
Subject: FROM URL TO SERVER RESPONSE
I didnt understand the difference between how regular HTML and PHP sites process going to a website and how RUBY processes visiting a website.
Please elaborate, a diagram may help.
Thanks!
From: Jesus Armando Garcia Quiñones Date: 06/18/08 04:16 PM
Subject: Very interesting course!
Hi to all! i’m from Mexico and want to be thankful to them for this opportunity to learn RoR. i was reading many text but, in this case i consider is very clear and easy to follow. Thank’s and good work!
PD. Excuse me if my English not is very good.
From: Murillo Parreira Date: 06/14/08 10:10 AM
Subject: Nice course!
Hi folks, i’m from Brazil and around here, RoR isn’t very popular… Despite this fact, i’ve been studying on my own and learning to really like Ruby and Rails by the simplicity and ‘beauty’ of the code…
Just want to say: ‘Keep up the good work!’ The iniciative is really inspiring!
=D
From: Rich Webster Date: 05/14/08 07:19 PM
Subject: Great! Add images!
This is the best free RoR thing I’ve found. By following the text while listening, it somewhat satisfies my learning style, but diagrams of the relationships, and ultimately (when you get down to code) having video of the code, as it is entered, would be great. I don’t think audio alone will cut it for me, in the long run. I would be OK with inline examples on the transcript page, but that would not be ideal.
I just finished an online class thru a community college, and this is at least as helpful, so far. The instructor in that class provided videos, but he was less organized at communicating the concepts. I also like the two-voice technique. Keep that up.
From: Phil Leeson Date: 04/26/08 03:15 PM
Subject: Learning Rails
Excellent – very clear and concise and also very practical. These tutorials are just what I need. Thanks!
From: Naushad Pasha Date: 04/22/08 02:02 AM
Subject: Very Informative
Its clear and understandable, Well only suggestion is we should have the video lessons also so that any person who is very new to rails will understand better.
Thanks Naushad Pasha
From: iceskysl Date: 04/18/08 06:18 PM
Subject: good~
very clearly and useful.
From: zain alabdin tawfiq Date: 04/12/08 01:13 PM
Subject: thanks!
I don’t know how to thank you, I’m searching for ROR tutorials and this seems like a good one!
From: Michael Slater Date: 04/09/08 08:20 PM
Subject: Text is available
If you’re looking for text versions of the audio lessons, just click on the Transcript link on the left side of the lesson page.
From: Christopher Haupt Date: 04/07/08 07:19 PM
Subject: Screencasts start soon
Stay tuned, as we’ll be posting screencasts starting with Episode 9.
From: Muhammad Date: 03/30/08 07:07 AM
Subject: Text lessons
Hi manager, can you send me an text lessons because I don’t understand it very really :-) thank you Muhammad
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From: Zeck Date: 10/03/08 03:03 AM
Subject: Thank you for all lessons
First of all thank you Mr Michael and Christopher.
I think this is a best free online screencast. Looking forward to the your next one