I have played in wordpress a few times but interested to learn more about ruby / ruby on rails. Is it similar to wordpress?
If so could I do much with basic php skills? Im confident im html and css mostly.
Zapppa,
Ruby is a programming language. Rails is a framework built with Ruby. Wordpress and Ruby on Rails share absolutely nothing in common. Wordpress is an application written with PHP. Rails is a large set of carefully curated tools and helpers to build web applications, if you will.
If you are interested in learning some programming I would suggest you learn some programming fundamentals first. The go about learning the syntax of whatever language suits your fancy.
I find that the following resources are good for beginners who want to learn to program.
- http://learncodethehardway.org - You can start with Python or Ruby
- http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/ - A great way to learn about programming if you also want to learn Ruby.
- http://www.sitepoint.com/books/phpmysql5 - Sitepoints beginner PHP book
- I could have sworn that Sitepoint had just released a Jumpstart Rails book, but I can’t seem to find it. (Could be wrong about this!)
This should get you started! Good luck and have fun coding!
Thanks!
Great response to the question, @scannon;. Thanks for taking the time to provide some clear guidance
The “JumpStart” resources are on Learnable.com, Sitepoint’s sister site dedicated to education.
Nope I think its not possible. Ruby is a difficult language to learn, you need intermediate or even advanced programming skill to be able to understand and use it properly. Id say master PHP before even attempting Ruby, do not even try it before you are comfortable with OOP.
I disagree.
One of the most attractive aspects of Ruby is its very “English-like” syntax. Combined with Duck-Typing the language is flexible and forgiving. I would say that make it easy to learn. Perhaps even easier than BASIC which, although it uses English keywords has bizarre logic constructs and syntax rules.
Perhaps, everyone learns programming differently. I do believe there are people who find it easy to even start with Ruby without prior programming experiences, but such cases are rare. Most people, however, consider Ruby as a much more difficult language to understand and master compared to PHP and Python.
I agree with ParkinT, I found Ruby very easy to learn, but then again I’m familliar with other similar languages.
I did however have problems with Rails. I just don’t like being confined to “conventions” I guess, but that’s just me.
And I guess if someone isn’t used to working from the command prompt they might have problems, It seems many are more comfortable working with a “visual” environment.
You see, thats the point. XD Once you become familiar with some programming languages, it will be much easier to pick up another. However, when it comes down to absolute beginners, starting with Ruby is quite challenging compared to PHP and Python. According to this article about PHP/Python/Ruby comparison, its also evident that Ruby is more suitable for coders who are already familiar with at least 1-2 programming languages:
https://www.udemy.com/blog/modern-language-wars/
I actually agree with both Hall of Famer and ParkinT! 
From my own personal learning experience I don’t believe that language is the most important factor when trying to learn to program. I think that one needs to understand the basics of programming (with any language) before really trying to master a programming language. I spent years jumping from one language to the next hoping to find the “right” one. There came a point where I realized that I needed to go back and learn the basics about programming in general. For example, if I understand what a variable (or any other general programming element) is, what it is supposed to do, and how I can use it, I can translate that to ANY language. All I have to do is learn the syntax for declaring a variable because the basic idea behind a variable remains the same across most programming languages. Thus, and this is solely my opinion, I think one should learn about programming first and syntax second. Obviously, you have use a language to learn programming. My personal opinion is that Ruby is great language to learn how to program because of its syntax. Further, many of the ideas that you learn while programming Ruby can be utilized in other languages.
Again, just my thoughts from personal experience. YMMV! 
I learned Ruby several years ago but then later dropped it in favour of python. Of course me being familiar with python at the outset was a big factor for me.
However I admit that Ruby has a nicer syntax for learning OOP compared to PHP and python. I found that Ruby adopted a lot of Perlish conventions in syntax which I dont think is helpful for a beginner.
Years ago one of the main reasons why I abandoned Ruby is because it tended to work well on Linux but poorly on Windows. (No doubt the situation has improved over the years.) Wheras python had a lot of support for windows from the beginning.
So in conclusion, if learning best OOP syntax then Ruby is probably better. For general beginner programming principles (apart from OOP) I would suggest python. PHP is getting better these days but I think it suffers from trying to maintain backward compatibility to the “bad old days”. There are too many possible ways to do bad practice coding that is not even recommended by the PHP community. However its still possible to do it that way to maintain backward compatibility with old scripts and libraries.
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Why not Jump Start Ruby?