Recently I received free copy of Learn Ruby on Rails book by Daniel Kehoe, so I’ve decided to write this review.

Who is this book for

Book is aimed at begining rails developers. So if you have no experiences with Rails, that’s first book you should try. You will find out all example code on github repository and because book is part of subscription program you will get access to book updates, some other tutorials and another book about Bootstrap.

What’s in this book

Book gives you step by step guide for creating rails application. In example application you will create mailing list with integration with MailChimp and Google Drive. It gives review of how developing applications in rails works. You will find out introduction to git, you’ll be explained to models, views and controllers and you’ll be introduced to some gems for easier development.

What I like about this book

What I like about this book is developer’s approach to creating rails applications. Maybe you’ll be surprised that in first chapters you will read about things like agile practices, creating github account, planning, managing your application. That’s interesting approach that I didn’t find in any other introductory rails book like Agile Web Development with Rails and Learn Web Development with Ruby on Rails by Michael Hartl.

I’ve also liked author’s approach to learning about views, controllers. He doesn’t use rails scaffold command, but he want from you to build your controllers, models and views from scratch. That’s a best way to learning about it. Author encourages you to play with your code and try something new.

Book is written in friendly plain language, so you don’t have to worry about that you don’t understand. After writing some code author gives you brief explanation what he’ve just done.

What I’ve found useful is long gem list for easier development. You’ll be introduced to useful gems like figaro, rails_layout for easier web development.

What I’ve been missing

What I’ve been missing is absence of test driven development, but as author explains, this is a prequel book you should read before Michael Hartl Tutorial. If you want to have additional resources about test driven development I recommend you either Cucumber and Rspec book, or online version of Michael Hartl book.

Conclusion

So if you’re absolutely new to Ruby on Rails development, Learn Rails Book is a must read for you.