It is really hard to find the right path. For me that I am coming from
the ASP Classic world it is even harder - because I think in a total
different way.
I think this is probably the most insightful point... Rails is an extraction of ideas and what DHH (and many others) consider to be best practices. So for many of us, it is easy to find the answers, because we already think that way. I've rarely had any problem finding what I need, and IRC usually provides the rest. But just before rails came about, I already was looking for ways to do things this way; rails just did it first and better.
I even couldnt find the ".blank?" thing and what it does. Its not avail.
IIRC, blank? was added in recent edge rails, so if you are using the stable release, it may not be there. Same caveat if you have bought the beta version of "Agile Programming with Rails". I wonder if some of the forum and wiki pages also suffer from this. People need to be clear what version they are using; due to the incredibly fast pace of development, I suspect a lot of people are using edge rails.
- because the modell behavior is really great but the way is hard. Also
in the Agile Web development book are "MANY" bugs - which doesnt make it
easier.
Again, what version of rails and what version of that book?
I am sitting here since 2 Weeks and coding my first app with rails but
most of the code is from the forum - and some code I dont even know what
it is doing.
On the plus side: Its getting better every day.
As I said before, I think the biggest issue is learning to think in a different way. It's sorta like the transition from being a procedural programmer to a OO programmer.
>
> It is really hard to find the right path. For me that I am coming from
> the ASP Classic world it is even harder - because I think in a total
> different way.
>
I think this is probably the most insightful point... Rails is an
extraction of ideas and what DHH (and many others) consider to be
best practices. So for many of us, it is easy to find the answers,
because we already think that way. I've rarely had any problem
finding what I need, and IRC usually provides the rest. But just
before rails came about, I already was looking for ways to do things
this way; rails just did it first and better.
> I even couldnt find the ".blank?" thing and what it does. Its not
> avail.
IIRC, blank? was added in recent edge rails, so if you are using the
stable release, it may not be there. Same caveat if you have bought
the beta version of "Agile Programming with Rails". I wonder if
some of the forum and wiki pages also suffer from this. People need
to be clear what version they are using; due to the incredibly fast
pace of development, I suspect a lot of people are using edge rails.
> - because the modell behavior is really great but the way is hard.
> Also
> in the Agile Web development book are "MANY" bugs - which doesnt
> make it
> easier.
>
Again, what version of rails and what version of that book?
> I am sitting here since 2 Weeks and coding my first app with rails but
> most of the code is from the forum - and some code I dont even know
> what
> it is doing.
>
> On the plus side: Its getting better every day.
As I said before, I think the biggest issue is learning to think in a
different way. It's sorta like the transition from being a procedural
programmer to a OO programmer.
The problems with documentation are not new, in fact some people are
actually trying to do something about it by hiring a professional to
spend some quality time with the docs.
It is really hard to find the right path. For me that I am coming from
the ASP Classic world it is even harder - because I think in a total
different way.
I think this is probably the most insightful point...
I agree - coming from the Java world, it took me a while to understand some
of the philosophy behind ROR. It was almost a month before I realized I
didn't have to download gems before installing. It took me longer to
understand the philosophy behind Java. Although I have dozens of books on
Java, the ones I have on Ruby and Rails are as good as any on Java.
My thanks goes out to the people who have worked on the documentation -
excellent job. While there is always room for improvement, I have found all
the answers I've needed in my 2 months of using ruby and rails every day -
until today, hence my first post to the mailing list.
I look forward to the day I can contribute to both the code and the
documentation. Perhaps I can help with the overviews soon.
