Learning Rails

Rails from the Outside In

While most books written about Rails cater to programmers looking for information on data structures, Learning Rails targets web developers whose programming experience is tied directly to the Web.

Rather than begin with the inner layers of a Rails web application--the models and controllers--this unique book approaches Rails development from the outer layer: the application interface. You'll learn how to create something visible with Rails before reaching the more difficult database models and controller code. With Learning Rails, you can start from the foundations of web design you already know, and then move more deeply into Ruby, objects, and database structures.

This book will help you:

• Present web content by building an application with a basic view and a simple controller, while learning Ruby along the way
  
  
• Build forms and process their results, progressing from the simple to the more complex
  
  
• Connect forms to models by setting up a database, and use Rails' ActiveRecord to create code that maps to database structures
  
  
• Use Rails scaffolding to build applications from a view-centric perspective
  
  
• Add common web application elements such as sessions, cookies, and authentication
  
  
• Build applications that combine data from multiple tables
  
  
• Create simple but dynamic interfaces with Rails and Ajax

Once you complete Learning Rails, you'll be comfortable working with the Rails web framework, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a Rails guru.

About the Authors
Simon St. Laurent is a web developer, network administrator, computer book author, and XML troublemaker living in Ithaca, NY. His books include XML: A Primer, XML Elements of Style, Cookies, Office 2003 XML, and the XML Pocket Reference.

You can find his writing on everything from technology to Quakerism to life in Dryden to gardening to New York State politics aggregated at simonstl.com.

Edd Dumbill is co-chair of the O'Reilly Open Source Convention. He is also chair of the XTech web technology conference. Edd conceived and developed Expectnation, a hosted service for organizing and producing conferences.

Edd has also been Managing Editor for XML.com, a Debian developer, and GNOME contributor. He writes a blog called Behind the Times.