What I actually find most important is being able to do a well worded google search (I sometimes wonder if there should be a qualification for that in itself lol?). The Ruby and the Rails forums are very friendly and helpful.
I usually start a google search with Ruby or Rails and the version number, followed by a question that tries to avoid using common phrases. Finding a past thread relating to something you are trying to achieve can very often lead to an excellent discussion with different approaches to doing things. I nearly always find someone has written something worth reading. How you go about learning, also depends on your main goal. Is it to get an app up and running, or is it to become more proficient as a programmer (I am guessing probably some of both) Occasionally digging into some existing code can highlight areas where you may want to improve your understanding. Particularly when thinking about how to structure a program. If you want to learn Ruby, then any Ruby based framework is likely to help, although I only have experience of Rails. What I do think is that Rails opinionated approach can help you to formulate some good approaches to your own development. Using a framework is a great way to build an app, but may not be the best way to get to understand how to develop in an object orientated way. For this, following the tutorial in the Ruby Book, is a start. What I found great fun and very challenging was developing a small app using GTK2 and Ruby. With GTK you can build a small window based app, although getting your head around the API can be a bit challenging. But starting something from scratch is useful to get to understand how to structure your folders, where to put your code and how to define and build objects etc. Just my thoughts! On Sunday, 2 September 2012 15:06:24 UTC+1, ACK wrote: > > thats the best advice i have ever got => Thanks > > On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 7:27 PM, Peter Hickman > <peterhi...@googlemail.com<javascript:> > > wrote: > >> Programming in Ruby will improve your Ruby skills. >> >> Work on non trivial projects that involve things that you have not >> done before and see them through to completion. This way you will gain >> experience and hone your skills. Reflect upon the quality of your >> work. Criticise your own work. Find your own mistakes and learn from >> them. >> >> There is no shortcut. >> >> Having said that just sticking to what you know and not venturing >> beyond your comfort zone will result in little growth despite how much >> effort you put in to it. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. >> To post to this group, send email to >> rubyonra...@googlegroups.com<javascript:> >> . >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> rubyonrails-ta...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rubyonrails-talk/-/4uMqbB6QxlEJ. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
