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Learn Ruby

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24 pointsblacktm40 comments

There used to be a time where people created programming tutorials just for the heck of it: to learn the language better themselves, to do something good, to get some rep, to make a name for themselves. I wrote quite a few myself - enjoyed every minute of it - both the process of writing (writing stuff down forces you to be honest about knowing it well) and the feedback afterwards. Without asking for $10K on Kickstarter!! I see the direction this is going and I don't like it at all. I hope Kickstarter won't end up harming open source.

That's a litte hyperbolic, this is the first I have seen of something like that on Kickstarter.

Not at all. I withheld this reaction N times before finally posting it. The project mentioned in an earlier comment (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp) is another example. I'm talking about programming projects in general (tutorials, new apps, libraries, toolchains) and not specifically how-to tutorials. Why participate in open-source if you can try to get real money for it on Kickstarter?

With all due respect, the idea that open source projects are always the result of free, volunteer work is a bit of a sheltered and idealistic view.

Open source projects with the most tractions are either sponsored, or someone is writing open source code as part of a job they're paid for. (a few examples: Rails, node.js, Linux, Vagrant ....)

For projects where that's not an option, crowdfunding is a good alternative.

Most "involved" in open source are consumers. Crowdfunding allows for involvement and support at a different level, and is totally consistent with the open source ethos. Open source is about freedom, not money.

It seems like developing classroom material to teach kids how to code is the gravy train du jour.

Just from yesterday, "Treehouse gets $7M to bring learn-to-code programs to high schools". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5520726

Creating a good content can be pricey. Even if one wants to be altruistic, perhaps doing something gratis means you really can't dedicate as much time as you'd like. To that end, Udemy is a great solution for monetizing great teaching content.

I don't think Kickstarter will harm open source. I think opporunists might. But do you really think people like us would fund something like this? I'm honestly asking the question. I don't think they would. As a programmer I know better than to fund something like this. There's no shortage of Ruby tutorials out there for free and a ton that cost money too. All great resources. I see this and I think to myself, "nice, someone decided to capitalize on the hipness of Ruby by duplicating what's out there for free with a twist - vaguely familiar games as lessons".

I have faith that this won't be funded.

The end result is going to be free, isn't it? He's just asking for money so he can devote more of his time to it.

The end result will be $100.

What makes you say that? The description seems pretty specific about the end result being open-source and distributed as a gem.

EDIT: indeed, the $50-backers description alerts of a rise to $100 after the kickstarter. That has to be a huge mistake on their part.

EDIT 2: I just received information from Tom Black that the software environment, along with the lessons, challenges, projects, will be free and open-source. What will be paid are subsequent, related screencasts and online classes.

There are actually two components that the author is promising. The interactive learning environment and website will be free and open source, but the author is also planning on selling a premium, paid month-long course with extra content. The premium course is what's promised in the $50 tier, and what will cost $100 after the Kickstarter ends.

Edit: As the responses indicate, the premium course is probably against Kickstarter's rules. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

Any kind of membership site is against Kickstarter rules.

The point is that people are trying to use Kickstarter to eliminate risk in a business venture. If you're good enough o charge $100 for membership for one of your website, do it. Take a risk. Be entrepreneurial. Don't be that guy trying to get other people to provide you back-door seed funding so you can just bolt if it all falls apart with an extra $10k to boot.

From the KS: "Launching a Kickstarter campaign is the best way I can think of to get the word out and see if there's real interest in this. I always try to focus my time and energy on things people want (easier said than done), and this campaign will help me figure that out. So if you want this to exist, cast your vote by pledging!"

I try to be civil and calm here but that is complete and utter bullshit. Kickstarter does not exist so people like this guy can get a few months rent while trying out his latest business venture.

Lol. Tell that to every SilVal wannabe startup begging for seed funding. Being entrepreneurial IS about gathering reasorces to make your idea happen.

Kickstarter shouldn't exist so some guy can raise money to sell 3d printers either, but that happens all the time.

You've got a point there, but let's be honest: that 3d pen was pretty cool.

As a programmer, I wouldn't fund it. However, it might appeal to people who want to become programmers and don't know about the alternatives.

It won't harm open source. Perhaps it'll harm future crowdfunding endeavors, as the trust level will be low. However, I think open source software that was funded on Kickstarter, but never delivered (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp) is far more of a threat than courseware.

Rails.app which is now called Tokaido is not dead, see this:

Kickstart Update: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1397300529/railsapp/post...

Source Code: https://github.com/tokaido/tokaidoapp

Never said it was dead, but the promises of that project still haven't been fulfilled (see the Deliverables section of the project - a GitHub repo that developers can build in XCode isn't the .app that was promised) Note that update you linked to came a day after a pretty energetic discussion on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5116601

This violates Kickstarter rules.

See the $50 pledge: The price will jump to $100 after the Kickstarter, so sign up now!"

Kickstarter project guidelines: Kickstarter cannot be used to fund e-commerce, business, and social networking websites or apps. (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines#prohibited)

No matter if you throw the "education" label on it, it's still a paid membership site. A business website.

Even if it were allowed, it's miscategorized. The "Open Software" category is to fund open source projects, not education efforts about open source software. I don't see that any of the software that would come out of this project would be released as open source.

We'll find out. I submitted a note to Kickstarter informing of the project and that it may be a violation of their rules. We'll see if they take it down.

The local learning environment gem is "Open source (license TBD)" according to the page.

Edit: Since you responded to my other comment - I'm not claiming that what they're doing is allowed by the rules, just responding to that particular point.

Yes, but that's not the totality of the project. Had it been limited to that, it would probably be ok.

There are lots of places to learn Ruby. At this point, you could Google just about any question that you had.

How about something more ambitious? Anyone want to crowd fund a small satellite or lunar rover for the Google Lunar Prize?

http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

I wouldn't pay $25 for this Kickstarter project.

Codeacademy and Udemy has Ruby classes to grasp enough knowledge and cost less than this.

I also have to give a +1 to CodeSchool.

This is great, but there are already many sites that teach ruby through clean slides, animations and gamification. Most notably (with respect to ruby) is code school.

I'm all for more resources, but I don't see how this is filling a market gap.

Ruby is a part of hipster culture. You can't just say "There is enough hipster bands out there, we don't need more" can you?

It's probably not a good idea to use a "popular game character" in your example images, even if you don't name him. The sprite itself is copyrighted by Nintendo, and using it in your game like that is probably not going to fall under fair use.

Around minute 1:01, in the kickstarter video, he says that ruby is used by facebook o_O. I don't think that it is, is it?

I'm sure it is somewhere. Lots of software behind Facebook.

Remember that both Chef and Puppet are written in Ruby. Ruby is in a lot of things by virtue of the fact that it's so prevalent in the DevOps world.

Yes, I also used Chef. But I don't think that is enough reason to market a language as beeing a "FB" one. Because in that way you can market that 80% of the companies use ruby.

Probably not their public facing website, but most companies run tons of code you'll never see. I've done ColdFusion since 1999, and while it's not a language the cool kids use, I've come across tons of large companies that use it for internal HR sites, internal content management, etc.

They do. See the comment on this answer on SO: http://stackoverflow.com/a/553455

That guy isn't a Ruby developer -at- Facebook; he writes Facebook Platform apps in Ruby. With that being said I'm sure there's something in Ruby somewhere at Facebook - in an organization that size, there's room for a lot of best tools for the job.

Plus, Ruby is big in the CM/operations/deployment world given the popularity of both Puppet and Chef.

I wonder if this project will be as poignant as other ruby learning projects.

I think I see what you did there :)

Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby: http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/

And don't forget his interactive course! http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby

I actually know and have worked with Tom Black extensively. He was an instructor with me at General Assembly in NYC and, after being in the Ruby education space, it's clear there is a market for great developer education courses. The target market isn't the typical hacker news reader, it's the job seeker looking to expand their marketability. There are plenty of 'free' resources to learn cooking, yet there is still a huge demand for cooking schools. Many of us don't think twice about paying for Railscasts or CodeSchool because they provide value to the user. I don't think there is anything wrong with selling a high quality instructional product to people who make be overwhelmed by the variety of free and occasionally dubious offerings. When I was getting started, the Rails Tutorial was a bargain at around $100. I can't speak for the quality of Tom's product (yet,) but there is certainly a demand and a need for quality programs for new developers. Given some of the utter nonsense I've seen on kickstarter, this is a worthy project.

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