On 3/12/07, Chad Perrin <perrin / apotheon.com> wrote:

> Back on topic: If you're serious about Rails, and want to start with
> Rails then move into Ruby, I suspect that the second book you should
> pick up after Agile Web Development is a book called "Ruby for Rails".
> I haven't had a chance to go through it at all, but by reputation it is
> an excellent book as well, and teaches Ruby programming from a Rails
> perspective, going beyond merely teaching the framework and the minimum
> of Ruby knowledge necessary to use Rails.

I might suggest that "Ruby for Rails" might be a good book to start
with.  It covers both Ruby and Rails in a spiral fashion, giving you a
little Ruby, then a little Rails, then going back in more depth.

It doesn't cover Ruby as deeply as the pickaxe, and it doesn't cover
Rails as deeply as AWDWR (and it's based on Rails 1.1 whereas AWDWR
2nd ed is more up-to-date covering the recently released Rails 1.2),
but as an introduction to both Ruby and Rails as a whole it's probably
not a bad place to start.

Now my experience was based on first reading the 1st ed of the pickaxe
on-line, then either the 1st ed of AWDWR or the 2nd ed of the Pickaxe
(or the other way around), then Ruby for Rails and AWDWR 2nd ed (sort
of in parallel).  So I don't really know what it would have been like
to start with Ruby for Rails, any more than someone of my age knows
what it would be like to encounter Star Wars for the first time in the
the order Episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

-- 
Rick DeNatale

My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/