Lesson 1
Why You Should Learn Ruby on Rails
Welcome to the Learning Rails Online Course
If you’ve read this far, you probably already have an interest in building web applications with Ruby on Rails. But just in case you’re unsure if Rails is worth learning, in this lesson we explore the reasons for the success of Ruby on Rails and the benefits that can result from using it.
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.
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.
Web resources
Keep in mind the distinction between Ruby and Ruby on Rails:
- Ruby is a programming language
- Ruby on Rails (often called simply “Rails”) is a framework for building web applications with Ruby
The central web resources for Ruby and Rails, respectively, are:
If you want to do some more preparation for your Ruby on Rails education, we highly recommend that you begin learning Ruby, the programming language, without regard to Rails (at first). You don’t need an extensive knowledge of Ruby, but you need to learn the basics. We’ll talk about Ruby a little more in later lessons, but you can get started now learning it on your own.
If you have experience with another programming language, much of Ruby will seem very natural. If you don’t have any experience with object-oriented programming, you may want to read up on Ruby objects — in Ruby, everything is an object, and you’ll work with them constantly.
Ruby uses one unusual construct, the code block, which is unfamiliar to most programmers and merits some study. Code blocks are used extensively in Rails.
Ruby-lang.org has a good introductory tutorial and a longer introduction to Ruby.
Ruby Essentials is a short online ebook on ruby.
And for those of you who are more graphically inclined, check out Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, it even has foxes!
You can begin experimenting with Ruby right in your browser, without having to install anything. Just browse to tryruby.hobix.com.
Introductory books
You need to learn about both Ruby and Rails, and you’ll want separate books for each of them.
For beginning Ruby, these are both good introductory books:
There are several other valuable references and advanced guides for Ruby, which you’ll want to pick up if you get serious about your Ruby programming; see our Ruby bookstore for an extensive list.
For learning Ruby on Rails, the current selection of books is a little problematic. Two years ago, there were only a few books; now there are dozens, which makes it more confusing to pick one. And alas, most of them are written for Rails 1.2.6, and the ones that are the most up-to-date are not well suited for beginners.
Although it is not the most accessible book for a novice programmer, and is written for Rails 1.2.x, Agile Web Development with Rails remains the classic Rails book. But if you’re using Rails 2, which we recommend you do, parts of this book will be confusing due to changes in the framework.
The most up-to-date and in-depth book on Ruby on Rails is The Rails Way. It isn’t written as an introductory book, so while we highly recommend it as a reference, you’ll probably want to start with another book to get your bearings first. The Agile book mentioned above is a good place to start, especially if you have a programming background. If you’re looking for a gentler introduction, some of the available books include:
- Rails Solutions: Ruby on Rails Made Easy
- Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications
- Beginning Rails
Other books provide a lot of example code that provide useful guides for how to implement various features. Books of this type include:
- Practical Rails Social Networking Sites
- RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rails
- Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce
- Rails Cookbook
- Rails Recipes
See our complete list of Ruby and Ruby on Rails Books for more.
Sponsored By
Reader Comments
85 comments
Very useful podcast
From: Venu, 07/25/11 09:51 PM
I have recently started learning Ruby and Rails... and I listen to your podcast on my way to office and back home...mostly on the road .. I am glad that I am able to understand most part of the podcast and Thank you for that.
Rails 3
From: Dario, 02/10/11 12:06 PM
Does this course cover Rails 3? Will this course be updated? When?
HELLO
From: BEHZAD, 01/25/11 03:56 PM
THANK U SIR FOR ......
Out of date link
From: n, 12/13/10 12:57 AM
You should update the link (and any other links there may be) to _why's guide, it can now be found at http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/
Getting access to all the lessons
From: Michael Slater, 11/21/10 02:15 PM
Jules, just click the Table of Contents link at the top of the left column.
"not found" error corrected
From: Michael Slater, 11/21/10 01:55 PM
Liammu, thanks for letting us know. This problem has been fixed.
I can't download the MP3s
From: liammu, 11/21/10 01:08 PM
http://www.buildingwebapps.com/account_assets/bwa/assets/learningrails-1.mp3 Page Not Found Sorry, there’s no page at this URL
Skipping ahead
From: Jules, 11/05/10 08:13 AM
Thanks so much in giving to your community. It would be nice if we had a choice to skip lessons to a more appropriate level since each student's knowledge of rails is not the same. Is there a way?
I'm excited to find this course.
From: John Mullaly, 08/05/10 08:30 PM
So far, this appears to be a great course. I can't wait to get to the next lesson. Thanks!
Thanks!
From: Vijay, 06/07/10 10:31 AM
A great manifesto !
Thank you.... enjoyed the podcast...
From: Hemant, 01/30/10 03:49 AM
A very nice introduction to Ruby and RoR... thanks...
Thank you.... enjoyed the podcast...
From: Hemant, 01/30/10 03:49 AM
A very nice introduction to Ruby and RoR... thanks...
New TryRuby URL
From: skim, 01/15/10 11:45 PM
http://tryruby.org/ (supports Ruby 1.9)
Object Oriented Languages
From: Micah, 10/11/09 05:47 PM
Correct me if I am wrong, but LISP is not an object oriented language. Other than that small correction this was a great introduction! Thanks.
feedback
From: Mithila, 10/02/09 03:46 PM
hi there i have a question and want all the 8 podcasts at a time could you please email them.If possible I want all the screencasts too.Because I need them really urgently. Thanks..
Feedback
From: Ad, 09/21/09 01:15 AM
Yes, Beginning Ruby should be a good book; Good Amazon reviews. Rails Books - Noticed these 3 books with good Amazon ratings are not listed : - Learning Rails, Simply Rails 2, Foundations Rails 2. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, Chapter 3 - broken link. :)
Feedback
From: Ad, 09/21/09 01:15 AM
Yes, Beginning Ruby should be a good book; Good Amazon reviews. Rails Books - Noticed these 3 books with good Amazon ratings are not listed : - Learning Rails, Simply Rails 2, Foundations Rails 2. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, Chapter 3 - broken link. :)
Feedback
From: Ad, 09/21/09 01:15 AM
Yes, Beginning Ruby should be a good book; Good Amazon reviews. Rails Books - Noticed these 3 books with good Amazon ratings are not listed : - Learning Rails, Simply Rails 2, Foundations Rails 2. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, Chapter 3 - broken link. :)
Feedback
From: Ad, 09/21/09 01:15 AM
Yes, Beginning Ruby should be a good book; Good Amazon reviews. Rails Books - Noticed these 3 books with good Amazon ratings are not listed : - Learning Rails, Simply Rails 2, Foundations Rails 2. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, Chapter 3 - broken link. :)
Feedback
From: Ad, 09/21/09 01:15 AM
Yes, Beginning Ruby should be a good book; Good Amazon reviews. Rails Books - Noticed these 3 books with good Amazon ratings are not listed : - Learning Rails, Simply Rails 2, Foundations Rails 2. Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, Chapter 3 - broken link. :)
intro
From: Andrew J. Manuse, 06/01/09 08:43 AM
You say a lot about switching to rails and learning it with prior programming knowledge. What if Ruby is the first thing you're learning? In my case, this is true. Is that a good idea? How can I start?
intro
From: Andrew J. Manuse, 06/01/09 08:43 AM
You say a lot about switching to rails and learning it with prior programming knowledge. What if Ruby is the first thing you're learning? In my case, this is true. Is that a good idea? How can I start?
intro
From: Andrew J. Manuse, 06/01/09 08:43 AM
You say a lot about switching to rails and learning it with prior programming knowledge. What if Ruby is the first thing you're learning? In my case, this is true. Is that a good idea? How can I start?
Looking forward to learn Ruby on Rails from you.
From: Giancarlo D'Orazio, 04/14/09 01:44 PM
I am a seasoned mainframe developer. I was introduced to Ruby on Rails and I love what I read about it so far. I want to become as preficient on Ruby on Rails as I am in COBOL. Thank you in advance for your help. Giancarlo D'orazio.
Rails suitability
From: Raju, 03/04/09 03:31 PM
Thanks for the excellent podcasts and screencasts. When you say Rails is not the best if performance is an issue, what do you mean - that the Ruby/Rails overhead makes the response times less than optimal? I am thinking of writing a dashboard app that needs to pull and display data from different sources ASAP. Is Ruby on Rails good for such an app or is it better to stick with java/jsp etc? Can Ruby on Rails handle unstructured data?
Topic Not Understand
From: vaibhav, 02/11/09 04:40 AM
how to intreprit the database in other? what is leagecy Database? what is domain specific language?
Need your Valuable inputs
From: Sundar Vajapeyam, 01/28/09 04:25 AM
I am a total fresher to languages and programming, do I need to learn any other basics as a pre-requisite to this? Please advice
Date the lessons
From: Fletch, 01/26/09 03:48 PM
Based on the professional and balanced commentary in the first episode, I'm looking forward to the rest. One tip: your lessons should be dated. Date is one of the most critical things in tutorials - if you're talking about Rails 0.9 then thanks but I'll go elsewhere. A lot of tutorials are about 1.x and so if there's 2.x stuff available of course I want to read that. Obviously from reading the text above, you wrote this after Rails 2 was released so it's relatively current and it will focus on Rails 2.x, which is great. However I trust you understand my point... later in the tutorials you might give some information which doesn't work or something, and then I have to figure out whether it's outdated or what's going on... you know what I mean... it's helpful to have dates.
Date the lessons
From: Fletch, 01/26/09 03:48 PM
Based on the professional and balanced commentary in the first episode, I'm looking forward to the rest. One tip: your lessons should be dated. Date is one of the most critical things in tutorials - if you're talking about Rails 0.9 then thanks but I'll go elsewhere. A lot of tutorials are about 1.x and so if there's 2.x stuff available of course I want to read that. Obviously from reading the text above, you wrote this after Rails 2 was released so it's relatively current and it will focus on Rails 2.x, which is great. However I trust you understand my point... later in the tutorials you might give some information which doesn't work or something, and then I have to figure out whether it's outdated or what's going on... you know what I mean... it's helpful to have dates.
Learning to program
From: Michael Slater, 01/09/09 05:37 PM
There's one beginner book that uses Ruby, so it would probably be a good one for getting ready to learn Rails: "Learn to Program":http://www.pragprog.com/titles/fr_ltp/learn-to-program, by Chris Pine The Beginning Ruby book referenced above may be a little harder for someone with no programming background but it will take you further.
Pre-Requisites?
From: stretchy54, 01/09/09 06:14 AM
The introductory podcast states that you assume listeners have a "programming principles background". Unfortunately I do not have such training and unsure where to start. Can you recommend a good online tutorial or book that would meet the ideal pre-requisites?
Very good and interested lesson!
From: Prosperino Mbalame, 01/03/09 11:08 AM
I'd like to take you about how the first 2 lessons I received were done. Completely clear...
Rails
From: Fidélio Artur, 10/24/08 12:01 PM
I understood on the 1st learning ruby free-online course that is power full fo web app. devlpmt. Funny!I liked.So is ti good enough to creat CMS like joomla?
Rails
From: Fidélio Artur, 10/24/08 11:59 AM
I understood on the 1st learning ruby free-online courso that is power full fo web app. devlpmt. Is ti good enough to creat CMS like joomla?
a big thanks
From: himadri, 10/22/08 12:49 PM
thanks for narrating ..thanks for creating this podcast ..thanks for the generosity and thanks for everything ...
how can i donate you other than mentioned option
From: wajahat, 10/19/08 05:59 AM
Hi Unfortunately I don't have such facility in our part of land, please tell me how can i donate at least some to you.. money booker like WU can be a option. (Its 1:90 ratio of my currency and to USD but i would like to contribute) Thanks Wajahat
Great
From: Cocolombo, 10/04/08 08:17 AM
Great introduction to the language and the framework. Can't wait for lesson 2.
thank u sir
From: anil sai, 10/03/08 11:36 AM
thanx for giving dis course free and also the tutorial abt dis one s so interstin n i wanna knw more further abt dis course...its very gr8....i really thank you sir...
thank u sir
From: Sathish, 10/01/08 09:14 AM
it is really great tutorial. I ve finished the 1st lesson, Waiting for the other chapters. Thanks a lot
thanks a lot!
From: rinaldo calixto, 09/23/08 09:41 AM
i have really apreciated the first lesson .you are a11
Thank you very much!
From: cherrian chin harada, 09/18/08 08:47 PM
Thank you very much! I am looking forward to this course,as well as to receive your e-mail notifications every three days. Hope this will be a successful experience with RoR.
No worries...
From: Michael Slater, 09/18/08 09:45 AM
Cherrian, Don't worry about making a donation. The course is free, and we want it to be that way. Donations are entirely optional, and we appreciate your appreciation!
Thanks for the introduction.
From: cherrian chin harada, 09/18/08 01:21 AM
Thank you for the introduction to ROR. I would like to make a donation now but I can't... Maybe after I learn more about RoR and can really use it to it's fullest potential I will able to donate. Please forgive me, I will continue with your course.Yes! each time I will feel guilty because I can't afford to donate now. Anyway, still want you to know I appreciate your good deed. Thanks!
Ruby on Rails Lesson 1
From: Charlz, 08/07/08 01:27 AM
Wow it's great and worth to learn. :)
Ruby on Rails Lesson1
From: ChanHan Hy, 07/30/08 11:14 PM
It's great! This is a lesson1 of ROR. I've done. I've listened and read it already. Thanks,
Congratulations!
From: Raul Souza Lima, 07/30/08 08:44 PM
Hi! My name's Raul and I'm writing from Brazil. I don't know if you know something about Brazilian community, but I would like to thank them for their excellent work. Cheers. Raul Souza Lima
Very Nice Introduction
From: Gouthami, 06/15/08 03:00 AM
Hello, this is great job. Thank you so much !
Nice Introduction
From: Samuel Luján, 06/12/08 06:01 AM
Hi This is a great job and very useful for me because I'm learning on my own. Thank you so much!
Nice Introduction
From: Samuel Luján, 06/12/08 06:00 AM
Hi This is a great job and very useful for me because I'm learning on my own. Thank you so much!
1st Listen
From: Steve, 06/03/08 10:40 AM
I just listened to your 1st podcast. Great! Clear and concise, seemed like great recording facilities. Good voice too. I’m listening to these tutorials cuz getting RoR onto my iMac, requires, for a starter, a 1GB download of Xcode on a slow line. Was going to just buy a Panther upgrade (from Tiger) but the comments on that have not been great. I’ll process that problem in the background. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to you and read Ruby for Dummies.
Thanks guys
From: Kristof Polleunis, 06/02/08 04:24 PM
I have a few rails books around but still couldn’t get my head around as it’s so different from php or coldfusion.
These lessons allow me to learn one step at a time focusing on what rails is before diving into the code.
Really excellent stuff ! You guys should also consider video tutorials.
From: jd, 06/01/08 07:53 AM
Glad you have the transcript since i dont have the patience to listen.
Issue with video #2
From: Paul, 05/27/08 01:41 AM
I was following along on my mac. Issue the command “script/generate scaffold page name:string title:string body:text” and get the following error. “wrong constant name Name:stringController” Was there a logical step missing or is it me. :)
Thank you Michael Slater and Christopher Haupt
From: Truong Thanh Hai, 05/20/08 02:08 PM
I’m beginner in RoR. Your lesson is useful for me. I hope I will be better with your help. Again, thank you very much
Thank you Michael Slater and Christopher Haupt
From: Truong Thanh Hai, 05/20/08 02:08 PM
I’m beginner in RoR. Your lesson is useful for me. I hope I will be better with your help. Again, thank you very much
Learning RoR
From: Saloni, 05/17/08 02:37 PM
Thank you for your effort in making it very easy for a newbie to start with core concepts behind ruby on rails.You people rock,,keep it up !!
Thanks Michael
From: Fabio Nascimento, 05/14/08 09:03 AM
I`m beginner in RoR, but i hope learning more, much more.
Again, thank`s very much.
Fabio Nascimento
Video streaming
From: Michael Slater, 05/10/08 05:35 AM
zohaib, I believe you would use Rails to manage pointers to the video files and present thumbnails and descriptions and comments and so forth, but you’d want to use a streaming server independent of Rails for the actual video streaming.
Video Streaming in ruby on rails
From: zohaib, 05/05/08 06:17 PM
hello Actually i want to learn how we can implement video streaming in ruby on rails.
Learning PHP vs. Rails
From: Michael Slater, 04/29/08 06:47 AM
Joan, it depends on what kind of sites you want to build and how much of a learning investment you want to make. With PHP, you can learn just a little bit and immediately begin gradually adding dynamic capabilities to otherwise static sites. With Rails, you’re learning both a language and a framework, and the amount of learning required before you can do anything is much greater. But when you’re there, you have a more powerful tool at your disposal. If the sites you’re going to build don’t need to work with any complex data, learning Rails may not be worthwhile.
Learning Ruby on Rails
From: Joan G., 04/29/08 06:15 AM
I’m new to the programming world. I can create simple, accessible websites but I wanted to make that step to database driven sites. Which language would you recommend learning first – Ruby on Rails or PHP? I’m willing to put in the time.
Video Content
From: Adnan Rashid, 04/28/08 10:45 PM
Kudos for the great job. Just started with the first tutorial, and learned loads.
Learning Rails
From: Phil Leeson, 04/26/08 08:20 AM
I’ve got programming experience but I’m new to Ruby and Rails and I’m learning on my own. I bought the books a while ago but I needed something to get me started. This lesson has certainly done that! Many thanks… and I’m looking forward to the next lesson!
Ruby on Rails
From: Naushad Pasha, 04/20/08 10:34 PM
Its very informative and easy to understand rials on this website, As i am new to ruby on rails i am reading ruby and i understand the basic programming in ruby but unable to learn rails, i think finally i have got a good site to run rails thanks…...
Sounds good so far
From: Dan F., 04/20/08 03:43 PM
If the rest of the lessons are as clear and concise as this intro, learning Rails will be a pleasant experience.
Thanks!
—df
Excellent !!!!!
From: Nitilaksha, 04/20/08 03:03 PM
I Love it…. Thank you Michael
Excellent Introduction!
From: Michael Carlyon, 04/20/08 01:20 AM
You have masterfully succeeded in providing a simple and interesting introduction to Ruby and Rails. I’m looking forward to the next lesson. Thank you!
Print stylesheet is now fixed
From: Marcos Ricardo, 04/15/08 12:25 PM
Hi Michael,
Wow you are fast on the trigger… Cool.
I haven’t try printing on the first place, I have no idea of this print stylesheet.
It works fine, just 6 pages of text.
A very clever solution.
Thanks.
Print stylesheet is now fixed
From: Michael Slater, 04/15/08 08:36 AM
Marcos, thanks for pointing this out. You don’t need a print button—we have a print stylesheet, so any reasonable browser should print the page well. It did need some updating, however, which I’ve now done, so give it a try and please report back if it doesn’t look good to you.
Print button on Transcript page
From: Marcos Ricardo, 04/15/08 05:57 AM
Hi,
Would be nice if we have a print button, to show a more “printable” version of the Transcript page.
Regards.
Sample App is provided for the screencast lessons
From: Michael Slater, 04/09/08 01:45 PM
Starting in lesson 9, we are building a sample application, and there’s a link to download the code in the notes for the lesson.
Suggestion
From: Neeraj Kashiva, 04/09/08 03:46 AM
This looks very exciting!!...it is good idea to have only audio and the transcript in text as video takes too long to download. However, it will be good to have a presentation (.ppt or .swf) for every lesson with some diagrams/illustrations to support the transcript. Also, it would be great if we have a sample application that can be setup & built upon with each lesson, as the course progresses.
suggestion
From: Wajahat, 04/08/08 04:09 AM
The work is remarkable.. i have one suggestion though: when i registered for this course on the same day i got my first lesson.. shouldn’t there be a little break to get mentally prepared. Regards Wajahat
Thank You
From: Ljuba, 04/05/08 08:12 AM
Amazing work gentlemen. Thank you so much!
Lessons need video
From: David Roberts, 04/04/08 01:59 AM
These lessons need video, otherwise they’re useful only to auditory learners which represent only about 20% of the population.
Credit to...
From: Thura, 07/20/08 02:27 PM
Thanks, good catch to know about ROR in a short period.
so...where's the catch?
From: Dan, 07/17/08 04:16 PM
Wow I guess it really is free. Thanks for the help.
Re: Source Code
From: Greg Zentkovich, 07/11/08 06:58 PM
This is an excellent lesson… very well done. I have learned so much just from the first lesson (video version). Just wished the source code was included with first lesson. Great job though… I’ll spread the word.
Great course and for free!
From: Dave, 07/10/08 06:58 AM
Been watching and listening via my apple tv and I can really say that to a beginner to both programming and rails, this course is exactly what I needed.
No doubt I’ll keep revisiting them and the notes.
Cheers,
Dave
good tutorials
From: logudotcom, 07/06/08 04:56 PM
it is really good
iTunes
From: Michael Slater, 07/06/08 02:37 AM
To download the podcast in iTunes, just go to the iTunes store and search for Learning Rails. Click the Subscribe button to subscribe.
From: Insertname, 07/06/08 02:26 AM
Hw do I download this as an actual podcat i.e. subscribe using iTunes :S
I’d even be happy just to download it as an mp3. I’m using Safari on Mac OS X, if that’s any help
Thanks
From: Gustavo, 07/04/08 02:47 AM
la verdad quiero aprender el curso aunque me de un poquito de dificultad el ingles pero igual lo estoy siguiendo
Learning Rails
From: Jorge Pompiani, 06/29/08 03:21 AM
Dear Michael,
I would like to thank you guys for making this rich material available for us to learn Ruby on Rails. I am a student of Systems Analysis and Development here in Brazil and when i first heard about RoR was on linuxmall website. I was looking for some programming books and one of them wa about RoR. Since then i try to follow as much as possible news, blogs, forums… until i found your video on youtube during a conference, if i am not wrong, in that video you talked about buildingwebapps.com and right away i signed up myself on learning rails podcasts. i'd say i am a beginner on programming, i have a small experience on Java and this semestre in school we will start study PHP and some stuff regarding CSS, Javascript… Well, i would like to say that your material is being very useful for me since i am learning RoR on my own, i have some doubt, some issues but i guess this will be clearing up with time and as i am passing by the lessons. RoR in Brazil is not as popular as PHP and Java, but i am sure in a close future, RoR will be as much or maybe much more popular than those two ones due to the increasing and fast up dates of RoR.
I am on lesson Three in your course and looking forward to see the next ones. I am doing a bit slow because i study the lesssons, make some note, and also i am writing a material / schema in portuguese for my own records.
Once again, Thank you and keep doing this great job.
Take care, Jorge Pompiani
Excellent Introduction of ROR
From: JK, 06/22/08 01:23 AM
Great Job!