From: John Joyce Date: 2007-06-07T06:20:45+09:00 Subject: Re: concept of self (was: Re: David Black's book _Ruby for Rails) On Jun 6, 2007, at 12:37 PM, fREW wrote: > On 6/6/07, James Edward Gray II wrote: >> On Jun 6, 2007, at 5:57 AM, dblack@wobblini.net wrote: >> >> > Almost anything in the language can probably >> > be reduced to a couple of defining phrases, but just saying (for >> > example) that a class method is a singleton method of a class >> object >> > doesn't actually make everyone understand or feel confident about >> > applying the concepts involved. >> >> And David's description of the singleton class is another terrific >> feature of the book. >> >> James Edward Gray II >> >> >> > > I am now convinced. I am putting this on my to read list after I read > the Agile book (I have it and not the other and cannot order books > right now...) > > -- > -fREW > It all really depends on what you want to learn. But I'd say that you really should be comfortable with Ruby before doing too much with Rails. Rails makes a lot more sense if you've really delved into Ruby first. The Pickaxe is a vital Reference book. buy it, keep it handy. Agile... is also a vital Reference book and tutorial, if you intend to do Rails, you need to have it. Ruby for Rails fills in a lot of blanks, and yes, the discussions in it about self and several other topics are some of the best and most often referred to. You'll be glad you bought it. You could jump straight into Ruby and Rails with only this book, but you should always build a small library for any language and/or framework, because one book will answer what another book will not. If you really need to learn beginning Ruby, go for the book Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional. It won't really get you to Professional, but it will get you to where you have at least a basic understanding of a broad number of topics touched by Ruby. Also consider the Oreilly books, Ruby Cookbook, and Rails Cookbook. The Ruby Cookbook unfortuanately doesn't address some of the useful topics in other language cookbooks (like the PHP book). Luckily all but maybe 1 of the Ruby books out there are very very good programming books. The problem you may eventually encounter is situations where Rails (or Camping even) are overkill for a web site, and all you need is simpler stuff. Also, if you are planning to use Ruby technologies for web sites, investigate hosting services very carefully. Ruby isn't as widely or well supported by hosting providers as is PHP. What's more, Rails, like some Python frameworks, is best hosted by companies that specialize in these kinds of web apps. These kinds of web apps are best served by having slice hosting or VPS (virtual private server) hosting. Not the usual shared hosting. Of course, if you can afford dedicated hosting, that works too.