Ebook: Ruby on Rails For Dummies

Barry Burd, Ruby on Rails for Dummies (Wiley, 2007)

You gotta love an author whose domain name is burdbrain. That said, Ruby on Rails for Dummies has exactly the same strengths and weaknesses as the rest of the Rails books I've read over the past few months. The biggest weakness, of course, is that the book is dated, like the vast majority of Rails books. Nothing to be done about it; software moves on, books are static. On the other hand, like the rest of the books, it's a solid tutorial in how to get yourself up and running on (an earlier version of) Rails. The datedness is not normally a huge thing, but since the database access methods have changed between then and now, those coming into this without some supplementary materials may find themselves confused when a number of examples error out. Still, as long as you recognize this and supplement with more recent online tutorials, this is a solid book. ***