Ruby & Rails: Tracks for various skill levels

**List last updated 04/19/07** (This list just keeps growing)

Ruby has generated such great interest and following since the launch of Rails. Mantra: Do get a book of Ruby before diving into Rails.

Now while researching, I found links here and there but they were all varied depending on your skill level. This (post) is an attempt and probably not the first attempt to group links, books and training sessions available by skill level. Only published books are included at the time of this writing (..most of them I’ve read and own). I have not included books and links that delve more into getting your rails app into production mode other than Capistrano and Mongrel. Such other methods might end up in another post or as an addendum at a later time. The Advanced Level is geared toward Rails.

A must have reference book:

Ruby In A Nutshell – by Yukihiro Matsumuto

BEGINNER LEVEL –

This level assumes that you are familiar with basic HTML, basic networks/servers and familiar with databases but have no prior programming background and entirely new to back end development.

B-L 1. Books/e-Books/Screencasts:

(Ruby)

• Learn to Program

  - by Chris Pine

• Introduction to Ruby

  - by Jim Arlow, Ila Neustadt

• Everyday Scripting with Ruby: For Teams, Testers, and You

  - by Brian Marick

(Rails)

• Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications (Rails 1.2)

  - by Patrick Lenz (I personally give this book a 5 Star)

B-L 2. Links:

• Ruby-Lang
• Ruby Wiki Book
• Ruby Cheat Sheet v.1 – Cenophobie
• Ruby on Rails

  - with links on How to install Ruby and Rails in a dev environment

• Ruby on Rails Wiki Book
• Rails API
• Rails Cheat Sheet – ILJD

B-L 3. Training/Classes:

• Ruby on Rails Training – Pragmatic Studio
• Ruby on Rails TDD Boot Camp – Obtiva
• RoR: Intro to Intermediate – RubyPal/David Black

INTERMEDIATE LEVEL –

This level assumes that you are very familiar with HTML, CSS, Javascipts, databases and have been doing back-end development with either ASP, Coldfusion, PHP, .NET and Java

I-L 1. Books/e-Books/Screencasts:

(Ruby)

• Ruby for Rails: Ruby Techniques for Rails Developers (5 star)

  - by David Black

• Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide, Second Edition

  - by Dave Thomas, Chad Fowler, Andy Hunt

• The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming

  - by Hal Fulton

(Rails)

• Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Ed. (Rails 1.2)

  - by Dave Thomas, David Hansson, Leon Breedt, Mike Clark, James Duncan Davidson, Justin Gehtland, Andreas Schwarz

• Introduction to Ruby on Rails and Ajax

  - by Jim Arlow, Ila Neustadt

• RailsCast (Podcasts last from between 1 -7 mins so far. Two thumbs up. 5 star)

  by Ryan Bates

I-L 2. Links:

• Start At The Beginning
• Top 12 RoR Tutorials (some outdated)
• Top 30 RoR Tutorials (some outdated)
• Amy Hoy’s Blog
• RubyForge

I-L 3. Training/Classes:

• Ruby on Rails Training – Pragmatic Studio
• Ruby on Rails TDD Boot Camp – Obtiva

ADVANCED LEVEL -

This level assumes that you are breathing and thriving in ruby and running rails applications plus adding Ajax, Subversion, Capistrano and Mongrel into the mix.

A-L 1. Books/e-Books/Screencasts:

• Rails Recipes (5 star)

  - by Chad Fowler

• Rails Cookbook (5 star)

  - by Rob Orsini

• Ajax on Rails

  - by Scott Raymond

• The Money Train (Rails 1.1.6.)

  - by Ben Curtis

• PeepCode ScreenCasts

  - by Geoffrey Grosenbach et al

• Pragmatic Version Control: Using Subversion

  - by Mike Mason

• Mongrel

  - by Angel Dobbs-Sciortino

• Mongrel (Digital Shortcut): Serving, Deploying, and Extending Your Ruby Applications

  - by Matt Pelletier, Zed Shaw

• Bestechvideos for ROR

  - collections by Alexey Kovyrin

A-L 2. Links:

• Capistrano: Automating Application Deployment Manual
• Mongrel at RubyForge
• Rails Migration Cheat Sheet
• The Rails Way < – I love this – Jamis Buck & Michael Koziarski
• Putting REST on Rails
• RESTful Rails Cheat Sheet
• Liquid’s Screencast
• Brians Eng’s Rail Links
• Obie Fernandez’ Blog
• Whys’ RedHanded
• Geoffrey Grosenbach’s Blog
• RubyForge’s Code Snipets
• InfoQ’s Ruby Section
• PluginAWeek

A-L 3. Training/Classes:

• Advanced Rails Training – Pragmatic Studio
• Enterprise Ruby: Bending Railsâ„¢ – Obtiva

There’s quite a few blogs out there that are just THAT awesome but do check out Planet RailsConf’s blogroll for a quick list.

I’d love to hear if you have a link or book to recommend and why you’re recommending it.