survey

** What did you do to get good at Rails?

ML: The only thing you can do is cut code. You can read all the books, 
    watch all the screencasts and subscribe to all the blogs in the world, 
    but until you start writing your own code, you won't get experience and 
    you won't become proficient in Rails.

** Who taught you what you know?

ML: Railscasts with Ryan Bates is the obvious one, but lately I've really
    been enjoying "Ruby in Practice" by Jeremy McAnally and Assaf Arkin. I
    also really liked "The Rails Way" by Obie Fernandez.

** Do you have any fond (or not so fond) memories of your learning experiences?

ML: I still get a kick out of showing someone a basic, single model CRUD
    system, with all the boiler-plate code autogenerated. I think that's the
    single biggest "wow" factor for newcomers. So much can be done almost
    instantly, and it leaves developers to actually think and write important
    code instead of worrying about browser sessions, database connections and 
    the basic SELECT/UPDATE/INSERT SQL commands we use daily.

** What was your first production app and what did you learn from it?

ML: AuroraCMS, our hosted content management system. I learnt to pick a gem,
    plugin or testing framework and stick with it. Everything's moving so
    fast, and most of the stuff is good quality. If you spend your time trying
    to choose between Rspec or Shoulda, you're wasting development time. Same
    with Paperclip and Attachment_fu. Both are great - pick one now and use it.
    Pick the other one next time, but don't be scared that you're making the
    wrong choice now.

** What tools do you use to make your life easier?

ML: iTunes - I get all my podcasts (Railscasts, Rails Envy, Ruby 5, Ruby on 
    Rails Podcast, Rubyology) and listen to them in the car. It's the best way
    to find out what others are up to, especially if you don't have a strong
    local Ruby or Rails community/user group. 

    Take the time to learn about git and GitHub, and then read other people's
    code (and contribute patches back to their projects). It's a great way to
    find out how other people work, especially if you don't have a pair you
    can program with.

** What did you find particularly hard to grok when learning Rails?

ML: I had a hard time learning what was Rails and what was Ruby. My advice is
    to take some time to learn Ruby before jumping into Rails.

** When did you start on Rails?

ML: I read about Rails over the Christmas holidays in 2004 but only began
    writing code 12-18 months later. I spent too long trying to get out of the
    PHP world, when I should have made the break earlier.

** Did you learn Ruby first or try to jump straight into Rails?

ML: I jumped straight into Rails, but I was reading the pickaxe book at the
    same time.

** Did you read any books to get good at Rails? 

ML: Yeah, stacks. Our company has a pretty good Ruby and Rails library, so
    there's always something good to read. I recommend:
    * The Rails Way
    * The Ruby Way
    * "Pickaxe" - Programming Ruby
    * Ruby in Practice (current favourite Ruby book)

    The upcoming Rspec book is good (available in PDF as beta release). The
    landscape is changing so fast it can be hard to keep up, but I do my
    best to read new books as they come out.

** What system do you use?

ML: I develop on a Mac and deploy to Ubuntu Linux Servers.

** What editor do you prefer?

ML: On the Mac I use TextMate and vim, and on Linux I only use vim. Nothing
    out of the ordinary.