Are there any good books out there, written in a similar - easy to understand - tone as Chris Pine's Ruby book is? Please list all recommendations that have helped you and you like.
Thanks.
Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) (Paperback) http://amzn.com/1590597664
Simply Rails 2 by Patrick Lenz Permalink: http://amzn.com/0980455200
Head First Rails: A learner's companion to Ruby on Rails by David Griffiths Permalink: http://amzn.com/0596515774
Beginning Rails: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) by Jeffrey Allan Hardy Permalink: http://amzn.com/1590596862
I suggest you pick up a version control book as well: svn or git from pragmatic programmers, may as well get this part done early so it becomes transparent.
Good luck
* http://www.sinatrarb.com/intro.html
* http://datamapper.org/getting-started.html
* http://datamapper.org/docs/create_and_destroy.html
I'm not saying Sinatra is better than Rails (although, for some problem spaces...). What I am saying is that once you've mastered Sinatra, which will take a day or two, everything in Rails will make 10x more sense. And, in particular, you'll avoid some major pitfalls that catch Rails newcomers, like relying on scaffolding and generators, or reaching for plugins for simple problems, or overdesigning your application.
With that knowledge gained one might stick with Sinatra, or even move to Rails with a better understanding of and appreciation for what the framework offers. Either way it's a win.
Here's some links:
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/index.html http://github.com/trevorturk/static/ http://heroku.com
I think tptacek makes a good point, too, though. Learning how Sinatra works and checking out some example apps there might be a good way to start as well.