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Diffstat (limited to 'guides/source/getting_started.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | guides/source/getting_started.md | 49 |
1 files changed, 32 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/guides/source/getting_started.md b/guides/source/getting_started.md index 53b6bf82bb..1a792f8408 100644 --- a/guides/source/getting_started.md +++ b/guides/source/getting_started.md @@ -21,19 +21,22 @@ application from scratch. It does not assume that you have any prior experience with Rails. However, to get the most out of it, you need to have some prerequisites installed: -* The [Ruby](http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads) language version 1.9.3 or newer -* The [RubyGems](http://rubygems.org) packaging system -* To learn more about RubyGems, please read the [RubyGems Guides](http://guides.rubygems.org) -* A working installation of the [SQLite3 Database](http://www.sqlite.org) +* The [Ruby](http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads) language version 1.9.3 or newer. +* The [RubyGems](http://rubygems.org) packaging system, which is installed with Ruby + versions 1.9 and later. To learn more about RubyGems, please read the [RubyGems Guides](http://guides.rubygems.org). +* A working installation of the [SQLite3 Database](http://www.sqlite.org). Rails is a web application framework running on the Ruby programming language. If you have no prior experience with Ruby, you will find a very steep learning -curve diving straight into Rails. There are some good free resources on the -Internet for learning Ruby, including: +curve diving straight into Rails. There are several curated lists of online resources +for learning Ruby: -* [Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book](http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com) -* [Programming Ruby](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/) -* [Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby](http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/) +* [Official Ruby Programming Language website](https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/) +* [reSRC's List of Free Programming Books](http://resrc.io/list/10/list-of-free-programming-books/#ruby) + +Be aware that some resources, while still excellent, cover versions of Ruby as old as +1.6, and commonly 1.8, and will not include some syntax that you will see in day-to-day +development with Rails. What is Rails? -------------- @@ -54,11 +57,13 @@ learned elsewhere, you may have a less happy experience. The Rails philosophy includes two major guiding principles: -* DRY - "Don't Repeat Yourself" - suggests that writing the same code over and - over again is a bad thing. -* Convention Over Configuration - means that Rails makes assumptions about what - you want to do and how you're going to do it, rather than requiring you to - specify every little thing through endless configuration files. +* **Don't Repeat Yourself:** DRY is a principle of software development which + states that "Every piece of knowledge must have a single, unambiguous, authoritative + representation within a system." By not writing the same information over and over + again, our code is more maintainable, more extensible, and less buggy. +* **Convention Over Configuration:** Rails has opinions about the best way to do many + things in a web application, and defaults to this set of conventions, rather than + require that you specify every minutiae through endless configuration files. Creating a New Rails Project ---------------------------- @@ -73,9 +78,9 @@ By following along with this guide, you'll create a Rails project called (very) simple weblog. Before you can start building the application, you need to make sure that you have Rails itself installed. -TIP: The examples below use `#` and `$` to denote superuser and regular -user terminal prompts respectively in a UNIX-like OS. If you are using -Windows, your prompt will look something like `c:\source_code>` +TIP: The examples below use `$` to represent your terminal prompt in a UNIX-like OS, +though it may have been customized to appear differently. If you are using Windows, +your prompt will look something like `c:\source_code>` ### Installing Rails @@ -97,6 +102,16 @@ If you don't have Ruby installed have a look at [ruby-lang.org](https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/) for possible ways to install Ruby on your platform. +Many popular UNIX-like OSes ship with an acceptable version of SQLite3. Windows +users and others can find installation instructions at [the SQLite3 website](http://www.sqlite.org). +Verify that it is correctly installed and in your PATH: + +```bash +$ sqlite3 --version +``` + +The program should report its version. + To install Rails, use the `gem install` command provided by RubyGems: ```bash |