Customer Reviews

Rails Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been searching high and low for a text that actually explains something, not just offers massive tutorials. This book fits the bill perfectly. The writing is precise and succinct. Both the author and the O'Reilly editors deserve kudos for writing this.

In short, if you want to learn Rails, and have been struggling, grab this book!

Like many who dabble with Rails, I own many books on the subject. I like this format in general, and this book does not disappoint. Rails is a loose set of tools/scripts, and this brings together the "how", with just the right amount of "why".

I give the content 5 stars, but it's so densely packed with information at times the layout is too busy, so I gave it a 4 overall.

The Rails community changes too fast for good documentation in my opinion. If you are getting into Rails for the first time, get a book that use Ruby 1.9+ and Rails 3+. Use exactly the same version of Ruby and Rails they use...finish the book. Then hit the interwebs to get the latest information.

Just got this book the other day I think its a must have for if you are a rails developer ..

I bought this book in the hope of a fast reference for Rails 2.x.
First complain: there's only a single, 200 pages long, chapter, splitted into several paragraphs; it ain't a severe drawback, but by dedicating to each topic a chapter would be far more usable.
This book does a good job introducing Rails: gems, scripts and the configuration are all well exposed throughtout the first 30 pages.
Troubles start when introducing Testing (why are there only examples of Functional tests?) and, after a good coverage of the console, get worst by entering the ActiveRecord paragarph: suffice to say that AR proxy's methods aren't mentioned at all, there are no examples about conditional validations (:if with block, proc or symbol), nor abstract AR coverage.
Ok, it's a pocket guide, but why the hell dedicate entire paragraphs to Capistrano and Textmate(!), when core features of Rails are not covered with the needed detail?
It's a pity, cause by adding 20 more pages/examples with the missing topics (and maybe eliminating some useless info) will transform this book into an essential reference (several 2.x features are well explained, such as named_scope and dirty objects). Sorry, target missed!