More accurately, this is how to learn Ruby on Rails online. If you really want to get a good feel for the internet’s hottest new web framework, I suggest that you bite the bullet and get Agile Web Development with Rails. However, some of us don’t have the time for “books”. In that case, here is how to get started.

Step one — Get impressed.

If you’ve never heard of Rails, the best place to start is to watch the “15 Minute Blog” screencast by none other than David Heinemeier Hansson. That ought to get you itching to start in Rails.

Step two — Roll on Rails, Instantly…

Rolling on Rails is a great tutorial for the Rails neopyhte. It will get Instant Rails installed and your first app made in less time than you can say chunky bacon.

Step three — Cooking on Rails.

Once you feel a bit more comfortable with Rails, it’s time to learn some tricks. The Rails Cookbook provides answers to questions that I guarantee you will run into. I also recommend looking at Howtos in Ruby. Chances are good if you have a question, someone has already answered it here.

Step four — Join the community.

Now that you are a big Rails programmer and you’ve tested your mettle against some code you may find that you have run into a sticky little problem that is beyond your growing mastery of the framework. That is where the Rails community comes in. I am no Rails guru, but I’ve found that anytime I run into a problem the community is right there with an answer. If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself.

In my not always humble opinion, Rails is the future of web development. It is time to hop on the bandwagon before it takes off without you.

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