Practical Rails Social Networking Sites (Expert's Voice) Review

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(More customer reviews)The is essentially a programming cook book with recipes centered on social networking functionality. That being said - this is not a "getting started on rails" book; you should have some idea of how to use rails (but you dont have to be an expert).
Here are some of the recipes: developing a CMS, blog with RSS, blog with web services, a forum, photo gallery (probably would have been better if this one had used Amazon's S3), adding tag functionality, creating a mobile version of your site, XFN, ...
Unless you're a broke student debating between this and food, I'd get this book. There are decent examples that are useful to see. It's pretty good considering Amazon's cheap price and considering this is the only book out on Rails related to social networking sites (as of when I wrote this review).
Update: I've now read the other Ruby on Rails Social Network Book: RailsSpace. In my opinion I would get both. However if you have to choose one it would depend both on your skill level and taste. Would you rather have more subjects covered with less material, or would you like less subjects being covered more in depth. If you want more subjects covered and you think you can figure out the extra details, then Practical Rails Social Networking Sites is for you.

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This book ties together the popular framework Ruby on Rails with another hot concept - social networking websites such as MySpace and FaceBook. Social networking is a kingpin of the Web 2.0 revolution sweeping the Internet right now. Due to its versatility, using Ruby on Rails to build and maintain social networking sites is the perfect partnership.This book will be one of the few project-based guides to Ruby on Rails - perfect for programmers that prefer the hands-on method of learning by example.

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Web Development with the Mac (Developer Reference) Review

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(More customer reviews)I work in the field of IT and have worked in web development but it has never been a focused effort to concentrate on it because my day jobs have always had me moving around from one function to another. I was always a Windows person and had never touched a Mac until last year.
The title of this book intrigued me right away because I am a web developer and I have a Mac. If that describes you or if you are thinking about jumping into the field, then this book is for you.
Having come from a Windows background, jumping into the Mac was definitely challenging - but I got over the bumps and learned to love the Mac. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what it could do, until I read this book. I honestly had no idea of the features that were built in to the platform, features that you have to install as add-ons in Windows. I mean, who would think that a complete web development platform was already present and waiting to be enabled. I'm speaking of the fact that Apache, PHP and even Ruby are all right there for you. Aaron clearly loves the Mac and he wants you to love it as well. He has gone out of his way to reveal all the secrets to working with the Mac. You can basically envision how he works on a daily basis, through the information and comments that he provides.
This book goes through pretty much anything you would need to know to set yourself up as a web developer and have a good chance at being successful. Of course, you have to provide the talent and the book does not teach you how to be a "designer" but it teaches you all the fundamentals of how to be a developer. The book goes from how to edit content on your Mac to how to test it locally, including enabling all the services the Mac has to offer. Then, you are provided guidance on how to work with a Unix server. Why? Because most web hosts are Unix based and it is a system you need to know if you are going to do the job. You'll learn how to push files to the Mac and how to back them up. You'll learn how to automate the login process through the creation and storage of authentication keys. You'll even get a tutorial of how to work with the Unix firewall tools so that you can harden the system and prevent someone from breaking into the server.
Once you get a good overview of the mechanical aspects, the book moves you into the development world by going through HTML, Javascript, CSS, etc. You get the full tour. This is not just one small chapter that tells you that these technologies exist. The detail is sufficient to give you a very good start on working with all of it.
Next up, the book moves on to the topic of designing web sites and again, the book does a great job at giving you instructions on how to do this. No, it does not really teach you about how to build a great design. That's a subjective topic and one that probably can't even be taught. However, if you want to know the basics about how to use Photoshop or a similar design tool, this will open your eyes. Ever heard of wireframes? Do you know how to use them? You're covered here. You'll even learn the secrets to the twelve-column web layout that may sites use and you don't even realize it.
Finally, the book moves into server-side technology and covers MySQL, PHP as well as Ruby and the Rails Framework. I come from a Java background, mostly backend, so I only skimmed the chapter on Ruby and Rails. However, I will go back and look at it when I get a chance. It looks like a great option for developers.
Be sure to go through the Appendix sections of the book as well. They are full of useful tips and links that you'll be glad to have gone through.
The writing style of the book is casual and feels like you grabbed a very large mug of your favorite beverage and sat down with Aaron so that he could teach you everything you need to know. The colorful wording and injection of reality gives you the sense that you are learning secrets from a good friend who really wants you to do well.
My overall thought is that this book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who is, or wants to be, a freelance web developer. It will also be a great book to have if you are a relatively new Mac user and work with these technologies. Is this book useful if you are a "Windows" user? Honestly? Yes. If you leave out the Mac-specific references, this book is still a solid read for anyone wanting a good overview of how to be a developer and you'll learn a lot from it.

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Everything you need to know to create Web sites using your Mac
Create and deploy striking Web sites and apps on a Mac for your own business or for clients using the essential techniques in this focused guide. While most Web site how-tos are geared toward either designers or programmers, this detailed book covers both aspects, helping you develop the complete skill sets that you'll need professionally. Tap all of the out-of-the-box perks that Apple has to offer for Web development with these techniques and insights from a seasoned Mac Web developer.
Takes you through everything that Macs have to offer for Web development, such as a Web server, PHP, and Ruby on Rails; Macs come with these right out of the box, making setting up a Web development environment pushbutton-easy
Reveals the science and the artistry behind creating beautiful and intuitive Web pages using Apple technology
Covers the technical elements of Web page construction with HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and Rails; then goes beyond to show you how to add creative flair using Photoshop

Turn your design and development skills into marketable assets with this essential guide for Apple users.
Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

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Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional Review

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(More customer reviews)While I really hate to slam down the authors of the book, this text really offers nothing to readers that isn't in better form elsewhere. The text is ridden with buggy code, incomplete explanations, and the style of coding leaves much to be desired. The "Agile Web Development with Rails" text (also available on [...]) builds nearly the same application (an eCommerce site), but does so while explaining the rails framework as well as offering up a solid reference textbook style for later use.
I teach graduate level computer science, and switched my curriculum to Ruby on Rails this term for my "Complex Websites" course. I reviewed many books, and this one ended up at the bottom of the pile. Sorry.

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Ruby on Rails is the hottest new open source technology around. It offers developers the opportunity to create fully-featured web applications in double-quick time. Rails and e-commerce are a match made in heaven and Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce is the first book to directly target this market.This book explains to readers, via real-life scenarios, how to use Rails to create every aspect of an online store - from creating a product catalog, to building a shopping cart system, all the way through to adding cool features such as customer feedback forums. In addition, the book explains how to interface with vital third-party software applications, such as those provided by online payment systems. Because of this breadth of focus, Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce is the book that all Rails developers are crying out for.

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Enterprise Rails Review

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(More customer reviews)Dan Chak has written a really excellent introduction to enterprise web application architecture, and a worthy candidate for your technical bookshelf.
Calling it "Enterprise Rails" is a bit misleading, though. Rails only makes fleeting appearances. There's a great introduction to Rails plugin writing, which rightfully urges developers to move any decorator code to plugin modules. He talks a little about segmenting class files along Physical, Logical and Service boundaries, the point of which I have yet to understand completely. And there's a chapter on pushing Rails' application-layer polymorphism down to the data layer, which is good advice, but more on that later.
The bulk of Enterprise Rails is devoted to building a solid data layer. Again, good advice. The Rails team decided that referential integrity and validation belongs in the application layer, which Chak contends is dangerous (and I believe him). However, this is where things start to get a little hairy - enforcing referential integrity and validation in the data layer requires an early and continued adherence to SQL, and Chak makes it clear that any old SQL won't do: it's PostgreSQL or nothing.
This makes fully half of the book a dissertation on SQL domain description language from the Postgre perspective, domain data, third normal form and other data layer topics. I have greatly enjoyed the introduction to Postgres DDL, but it wasn't exactly what I expected from a Rails book.
The last few chapters are mostly about Service Oriented Architecture (which I suspect is why most people buy this book) and caching. Chak shows why he's an expert in enterprise software architecture here. But again, he takes a decidedly anti-Rails approach, emphasizing ActionWebService and XML-RPC. This is not without reason - nearly every language has an XML-RPC library. But ActionWebService, as Chak notes, isn't part of core Rails any longer.
REST is quickly reviewed, then mostly dismissed. There's a cursory example of a RESTful service. ActiveResource, Rails' useful core module for REST-oriented SOA, is never mentioned.
Pretty much every time Rails comes up in Enterprise Rails (which, as we've seen, isn't often), it's an opportunity for Chak to take it down a peg. Well, Rails deserves it. But I think that slapping the word "Rails" on the book cover is has more to do with marketing than anything else. This is really a tale about data modeling for the enterprise, with an emphasis on Postgre, told by an expert.
I'd say that this is required reading for enterprise developers, but don't take the "Rails" part of the title too seriously.

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What does it take to develop an enterprise application with Rails? Enterprise Rails introduces several time-tested software engineering principles to prepare you for the challenge of building a high-performance, scalable website with global reach. You'll learn how to design a solid architecture that ties the many parts of an enterprise website together, including the database, your servers and clients, and other services as well.
Many Rails developers think that planning for scale is unnecessary. But there's nothing worse than an application that fails because it can't handle sudden success. Throughout this book, you'll work on an example enterprise project to learn first-hand what's involved in architecting serious web applications.

With this book, you will:

Tour an ideal enterprise systems layout: how Rails fits in, and which elements don't rely on Rails
Learn to structure a Rails 2.0 application for complex websites
Discover how plugins can support reusable code and improve application clarity
Build a solid data model--a fortress--that protects your data from corruption
Base an ActiveRecord model on a database view, and build support for multiple table inheritance
Explore service-oriented architecture and web services with XML-RPC and REST
See how caching can be a dependable way to improve performance

Building for scale requires more work up front, but you'll have a flexible website that can be extended easily when your needs change. Enterprise Rails teaches you how to architect scalable Rails applications from the ground up.

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Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are as many rails tutorials on the web and in book form as there are ruby methods. An infinite expanse of information - most of it leading to heartbreak and frustration.
Hartl, with this book as well as the first venture, takes the reader by the hand and gently guides him/her/it/them/monkeybacon through the world of ruby and ruby on rails with the excitement and ease a master has when taking students along for a ride.
I have a collection of books and tutorials and, WITHOUT FAIL, each and every one of them ends somewhere with some sort of mistake in code that I've never been able to get over (including the first book by Hartl, by the way). Not so with this one. I completed the project outlined in this book. First time that's happened with any of the other books/tutorials.
As I am a functioning idiot, this is no mean feat. It is quite an accomplishment. Not by me, but by the author.
If you are able to view the tutorial videos, those will make your life that much better.
Buy it. Now.

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"Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example by Michael Hartl has become a must read for developers learning how to build Rails apps." —Peter Cooper, Editor of Ruby Inside

Using Rails 3, developers can build web applications of exceptional elegance and power. Although its remarkable capabilities have made Ruby on Rails one of the world's most popular web development frameworks, it can be challenging to learn and use. Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial is the solution. Leading Rails developer Michael Hartl teaches Rails 3 by guiding you through the development of your own complete sample application using the latest techniques in Rails web development.

Drawing on his experience building RailsSpace, Insoshi, and other sophisticated Rails applications, Hartl illuminates all facets of design and implementation—including powerful new techniques that simplify and accelerate development.

You'll find integrated tutorials not only for Rails, but also for the essential Ruby, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL skills you'll need when developing web applications. Hartl explains how each new technique solves a real-world problem, and he demonstrates this with bite-sized code that's simple enough to understand, yet novel enough to be useful. Whatever your previous web development experience, this book will guide you to true Rails mastery.

This book will help you

Install and set up your Rails development environment
Go beyond generated code to truly understand how to build Rails applications from scratch
Learn Test Driven Development (TDD) with RSpec
Effectively use the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern
Structure applications using the REST architecture
Build static pages and transform them into dynamic ones
Master the Ruby programming skills all Rails developers need
Define high-quality site layouts and data models
Implement registration and authentication systems, including validation and secure passwords
Update, display, and delete users
Add social features and microblogging, including an introduction to Ajax
Record version changes with Git and share code at GitHub
Simplify application deployment with Heroku

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