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Ruby on Rails Tutorial (3rd Ed.) Learn Web Development with Rails Michael Hartl
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial book and screencast series teach you how to develop and deploy real, industrial-strength web applications with Ruby on Rails, the open-source web framework that powers top websites such as Twitter, Hulu, GitHub, and the Yellow Pages. The Ruby on Rails Tutorial book is available for free online and is available for purchase as an ebook (PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats). The companion screencast series, which is currently in preparation, will include 12 individual lessons, one for each chapter of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial book. All purchases also include a free copy of the Solutions Manual for Exercises, with solutions to every exercise in the book.
STAY UP TO DATE!
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HTML, Ebook, and Solutions Manual
- DRM-free copies of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial 3rd Edition ebooks in EPUB, MOBI, and PDF formats
- Over 700 pages of content
- Fully updated for the latest version of Rails
- Free copy of the Solutions Manual for Exercises, with solutions to every exercise in the book (HTML, EPUB, MOBI, and PDF)
Bundled Items
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HTML, Ebooks, and Early screencast access
- DRM-free copies of the 3rd Edition Ruby on Rails Tutorial ebooks
- Free copy of the Solutions Manual
- Fully updated for the latest version of Rails
- Early access to the 3rd edition screencasts (currently Lessons 1–4, will eventually include all 12 lessons)
Bundled Items
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HTML, Ebooks, Early screencast access, All previous versions
- DRM-free copies of the 3rd Edition Ruby on Rails Tutorial ebooks
- Free copy of the Solutions Manual
- Early access to the 3rd edition screencasts
- Free copies of all previous versions of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial ebooks (Rails 4.0 version, 2nd edition, 1st edition, Rails 2.3 version)
- Free copies of all previous editions of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial screencasts (4.0 supplement, 2nd edition, 1st edition)
- Over 2000 pages of content and over 30 hours of video
Bundled Items
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Ruby on Rails Tutorial Solutions Manual for Exercises
HTML & Ebook
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Ruby on Rails Tutorial (4.0 version & 2nd Ed.)
HTML, Ebooks, and Screencasts
About the Author
Michael HartlMichael Hartl is the author of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial, one of the leading introductions to web development, and is a cofounder of the Softcover self-publishing platform. His prior experience includes writing and developing RailsSpace, an extremely obsolete Rails tutorial book, and developing Insoshi, a once-popular and now-obsolete social networking platform in Ruby on Rails. In 2011, Michael received a Ruby Hero Award for his contributions to the Ruby community. 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.
TESTIMONIALS
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David Heinemeier Hansson - Founder & CTO, Basecamp; Creator, Ruby on Rails
3rd edition of @mhartl’s much celebrated The Ruby on Rails Tutorial is out in draft: http://news.railstutorial.org/rails_tutorial_3rd_edition/ — looks like a great upgrade!
[source]
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Jimmy Wales - Founder, Wikipedia
Q: What is Jimmy Wales’s favorite book?
A: It changes often. At the moment, it’s Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl. :)
[source]
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Derek Sivers - Entrepreneur, programmer
My former company (CD Baby) was one of the first to loudly switch to Ruby on Rails, and then even more loudly switch back to PHP… This book by Michael Hartl came so highly recommended that I had to try it, and the Ruby on Rails Tutorial is what I used to switch back to Rails again… Though I’ve worked my way through many Rails books, this is the one that finally made me “get” it.
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Peter Cooper - Ruby Inside
I got review access to all of the material and can confirm that, yes, these screencasts are awesome… If you basically want to be able to look “over the shoulder” of an experienced Rails developer and see how a Rails development environment is set up and how multiple apps are built, there’s nothing that can beat this. This isn’t a set of “build a blog in 15 minutes” videos—it’s a complete course that could kick off a new career for you with Rails.
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Alan McCann - COO, DailyUpdate.com
Michael’s original Ruby on Rails tutorial got me from someone who read Rails books to someone who actually was able to develop basic Rails apps—his teaching methodology somehow got me involved like no other book and allowed me to produce results quickly and gain confidence. The new screencast series got me to a whole other level of understanding.
Imagine going through the tutorial but having the pro-level developer behind the tutorial giving you a running commentary with tips, tricks, and useful detours—all while contributing to your growth as a Rails developer with a test-driven approach. I’ve always known that understanding how experts think about what they do is the key to learning and mastering something. In this screencast format, Michael was able to go beyond the limitations of the written word and both show and explain his approach to Rails development in an engaging manner.
If you are early in your days with Rails, just buy this series.
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Mike Riley - Dr. Dobbs
Written and presented by theoretical physicist Michael Hartl, Ruby on Rails Tutorial offers a superb introduction to the world of a Rails developer. The Rails Tutorial PDF and complete training video set is an absolutely top-notch package for learning the Rails framework…”
I can’t emphasize enough how much I enjoyed the Ruby on Rails Tutorial book+video bundle. railstutorial.org will no doubt educate legions of beginning and intermediate Rails developers, and will be one of those resources that students who complete the book and video course will refer to often. Because Michael offers the full contents of the book available for free on the website, both the book and videos are sure to become some of the most frequently cited educational references among Rails students. This package will no doubt play a major catalytic role in many Rails technical training and development careers.
If you have any interest in Rails, you owe it to yourself and your educational investment to obtain this superb package. It will likely be one of the best and most educationally rewarding purchases you will make this year.
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Mike Long - Software Engineer
Just finished the outstanding @railstutorial. Probably the best software tutorial I’ve experienced since K&R [The C Programming Language by Kernighan & Ritchie].
[source]
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Daniel Auger - Systems Architect for Minnesota Secretary of State
For what it’s worth: I had fantastic customer service from @railstutorial today. Buy with confidence my friends.
[source]
FAQ
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What are Ruby and Ruby on Rails?
Ruby is a general-purpose programming language, and Ruby on Rails (or “Rails” for short) is a framework for making web applications written in Ruby.
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What is the Ruby on Rails Tutorial?
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Web Development with Rails is the 3rd edition of a book and an in-preparation screencast series designed to teach web development with the Ruby on Rails web framework.
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What does the Ruby on Rails Tutorial cover?
Here are the chapter titles for the 3rd edition of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial:
- From zero to deploy
- A toy app
- Mostly static pages
- Rails-flavored ruby
- Filling in the layout
- Modeling users
- Sign up
- Log in, log out
- Updating, showing, and deleting users
- Account activation and password resets
- User microposts
- Following users
See the full table of contents for more details.
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How is the screencast series related to the book’s content?
When complete, the screencast series will include all the content from the book, while adding dozens of tips and tricks to help you go beyond the text, including debugging hints, testing techniques, and more detailed explanations of some of the finer points of web development. And though the screencasts are carefully edited, I’ve left in some of the problems I encountered along the way, so that you can learn how to recover from the inevitable application errors—and see that even experts sometimes make mistakes.
The content of the screencasts is based on the 3rd edition of the Rails Tutorial, which uses the latest version of Rails.
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Who should study the Ruby on Rails Tutorial?
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial is designed for anyone who wants to learn how to develop web applications. This audience includes entrepreneurs, small business owners, aspiring developers, and experienced developers with experience in other languages or frameworks.
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What are the prerequisites for the Ruby on Rails Tutorial?
I recommend familiarity with HTML and CSS, and some previous programming experience is helpful. That said, many complete beginners have completed the Rails Tutorial, reporting that it was challenging but could be finished with enough determination.
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Why should I learn Ruby on Rails?
Ruby on Rails is one of the most powerful and popular web development frameworks available, used by sites like Twitter, GitHub, Airbnb, and Hulu. Learning Rails will give you the tools you need to make your own web applications, while also putting you in a good position to work for a web development consultancy, startup, or other tech company.
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What about single-page web frameworks like Angular, Backbone, and Ember?
While some applications benefit from a JavaScript-heavy front-end, most applications are still more naturally structured as a collection of documents, and Rails is a better fit for this more common case. In addition, frameworks like Angular and Ember still need a back-end to process requests, talk to the database, etc.—a job at which Rails excels. (Indeed, two of the core Ember developers are also current and former members of the Rails core team.)
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How do I contact the author?
You can reach me by email at
admin at railstutorial dot org. -
Do you offer a money-back guarantee?
Yes, every Rails Tutorial purchase comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
MORE INFO
The Ruby on Rails Tutorial helps you learn Rails by example through the development of a substantial sample application, including a site layout, a user data model, a full registration and authentication system, user-micropost associations, social “following”, and a feed of status updates. The Ruby on Rails Tutorial also teaches good software development practices, including version control with Git and GitHub, test-driven development (TDD) and integration testing, and instant deployment with Heroku. Though of necessity the book and screencasts focus on a specific sample application, the emphasis throughout the Rails Tutorial is on general principles, so you will have a solid foundation no matter what kind of web application you want to build.
New in the current edition
- Fully updated for the latest version of Rails
- Optional use of a standard integrated development environment in the cloud for maximum cross-platform compatibility
- 100% default stack use of the Rails framework for greatest ease of use
- Lightweight, intuitive approach to testing
- Completely rewritten chapter on login and authentication
- All-new section on image upload
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All-new chapter on account activation and password resets, including sending email with Rails
- Strong focus on universal principles of web development
Previous versions
- Rails 4.0 version
- Rails 3.2 (updated 2nd edition)
- Rails 3.0 (updated 1st edition)
- Rails 2.3 (pre–1st edition)
Translations
Translations of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial are available in several lanugages:
- Chinese translation of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial
- Russian translation of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial
- Japanese translation of the Ruby on Rails Tutorial
Print edition
The print edition will be published by Addison-Wesley and is scheduled to be released in Spring 2015.
Help
Web development is a tricky business, and despite the best efforts of the
tutorial it’s likely that you’ll run into trouble at some point. Once the 3rd edition screencasts are complete, I plan
to post a reference implementation of the book’s sample application, but in the mean time you can post your question at Stack Overflow using
the tag railstutorial.org. (Click
here to
see questions labeled with that tag.) The creators of the
Learn_Rails subreddit have
graciously offered to answer questions as well.
Errors in the tutorial can be reported by email.
Debugging tips
While it’s impossible to anticipate every potential problem, here are some debugging tips that might help:
- Are you using the exact gem versions (including Rails) used in the tutorial?
- Did you restart the web server?
- Did you kill all relevant Spring (as described in the book)?
- Did you copy-and-paste from the book’s code? (Experience shows that typing in code, while a better learning technique in general, is error-prone, so when in doubt be sure to copy all code exactly.)
- Did you re-run
bundle install? - Did you try running
bundle update? - Did you try Googling the error message?
If your problem is of a general nature, such as having issues installing
Rails or configuring your system, I suggest posting to Stack
Overflow (again using the tag
railstutorial.org), sending a message to the
Ruby on Rails Talk
mailing list, or posting to the Learn_Rails
subreddit. This will allow other
people running into your issue (and not just those following the Rails
Tutorial) to benefit from the discussion. You can also try asking your
question on the Rails IRC channel
(#rubyonrails) or
the Rails Hotline to get live assistance
from other Rails programmers. For issues
deploying to Heroku, please contact Heroku
technical support.
When asking your question on any mailing list or forum, be sure to include as much relevant information as possible. It’s sometimes tempting to ask a question like, “I tried the code in the book and it didn’t work. Can anyone tell me what the problem is?” Unfortunately, there is no way to tell from this description what the problem is. On some forums, some responders might even be rude in this context, since not only is there not enough information to solve the problem, there is no evidence that the asker has made any attempt to solve it himself. If you want further details about common conventions when asking questions on forums, including how to maximize your chances of a helpful reply, I highly recommend the article How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric Raymond.
Contact
I can be reached by email at admin at railstutorial dot org.
