Learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails

Ruby and Ruby on Rails are growing in popularity. I've been spending a lot of time with them lately. Here are some good sites to get started with Ruby and Rails:

Ruby Tutorials

If you are completely new to Ruby, check out this brilliant online Ruby IRB session. It is a way to try Ruby even if you don't have it installed on your computer already. A cleverly-designed interactive tutorial in your browser:

There is an older Ruby tutorial with good information.

Programming Ruby is a great book. The online version is free, but it is an older version. I recommend buying the latest edition which is different than the free online version.

Chris Pine's original Learn to Program is a good introduction.

A fun, but slightly eccentric introduction to Ruby can be found on Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby.

The Little Book of Ruby is a free PDF ebook about how write Ruby programs.

Get a free Ruby Cheat Sheet and check out this online reference.

Ruby on Rails Tutorials

Rolling with Ruby on Rails is a good introductory tutorial. Part 2 is here.

Books About Ruby

Programming Ruby is the standard textbook on Ruby.

The Ruby Cookbook is helpful.

Also try Ruby for Rails by David Black.

More Resources

• Ruby tutorials
• Ruby Resources
• Top 12 Ruby on Rails Tutorials
• Top 30 Rails Tutorials

[I've been really busy lately which is why I haven't been posting more often. I will finish this post later. Sorry for the sparse content. If you have resources to add for Ruby beginners, post a comment and I'll add them to this page.]