On 26 Sep 2006, at 21:04, Rick DeNatale wrote:

> On 9/25/06, Paul Lynch <paul / plsys.co.uk> wrote:
>> On 26 Sep 2006, at 00:10, Phrogz wrote:
>> > While I'm asking for some me-centric stuff, how about the best
>> > resource
>> > for "Rails for the veteran web developer who's used to rolling  
>> every
>> > bit of HTML and CSS and JS by hand and is having trouble  
>> learning to
>> > re-use existing helper methods, and is instead spending gobs of  
>> time
>> > writing 'convenience' methods when that time should be spent  
>> cranking
>> > out the site." :)
>>
>> Yup, that's me!
>>
>> Agile Web Development with Rails (2nd Ed) is going to be your answer,
>> but I think you'd enjoy Ruby for Rails, too; I know I did.
>
> I haven't seen Ruby for Rails, so I don't know the balance between
> Ruby and Rails. I've heard good things about it, but is it really the
> right choice for someone who already knows Ruby and is trying to learn
> rails?

I said that I think he would enjoy it - because it avoids the "gee  
whiz" web designer approach to the essential Ruby core of Rails, and  
does manage to explain various aspects of Rails from a Rubyphile  
perspective.

> I've found that, as in development, an incremental or spiral approach
> works best for me.
> ...
> Now I'm working through the new edition of AWDWR, and rather than just
> slavishly following Dave's examples, I'm playing with them, using the
> Ruby knowledge that I've acquired, and seeing how it works in Rails.

The latest edition is looking to become radically different from the  
first, in a good way.

Paul