When I got brought on to the Ruby on Rails engineering team at my work, my boss suggested that we all watch at least 1 Railscast a day. This is good advice that I would pass on to anybody who is interested in learning Rails. I had no RoR experience whatsoever and watching one of Ryan's screencasts definitely sped up that process and helped me understand a lot of core features along with some awesome Gems that are out there. I even used CanCan for the first time on my project and watching the Railscast helped tremendously. Keep up the great work!!
I think Ryan's Railscasts are fantastic! I look forward to watching a new show every week. They are short, concise and to the point.
Ryan, keep the great work up!
Coming from 10 years of PHP development with a very sound knowledge of fundamental web development concepts and common problems, I have been able to watch Ryan's podcasts and learn nearly everything I need to know about Rails to get up and running faster than it would take to learn a framework like Symfony, CakePHP, or CodeIgnitor from my native language.
Ryan does a great job of doing development in increments and demonstrating the progression from simple to more complex. He purposely makes mistakes to demonstration what could go wrong and how to fix it. Even though Rails 3 was just released, he has done a great job of producing a number of Rails 3 screencasts before it was released that were still applicable to rails 2.3.x.
Even the first screencasts from older versions of rails still have great value for a beginner. I can't recommend railscasts enough. I've even donated a small amount via Paypal to help encourage him to continue with the screencasts and help cover some of the costs associated with producing them, if you find value from these screencasts and have a few bucks to spare, there are worse places to send it. . .
One of the main problems of learning a new framework is getting a solid understanding of what you can do with the framework. Generally this is a laborious task that requires reading lots of documentation and poring over source code and examples. But sometimes the examples are not clear or missing critical and insightful code snippets. The railscasts series helps very much in this regard. It provides nice and to the point examples of rails functionality with clear and detailed explanations. It all technology was documented this way with this kind of attention to detail the world would be a better place.
Check out these podcasts if you want to get a handle on what rails can do for you.
And best of all the podcasts are in nice bite size chunks. So you can view and review them at your own pace without feeling overwhelmed by a mountain of documentation.
Ryan's no-nonsense podcasts are always spot-on. He picks exactly the right topics and covers them throroughly, with no fluff. If only all web resources were this tight.
Week after week, Ryan provides very focused, very helpful screencasts on all things Rails.
I am amazed at the quality of the information presented.
Thanks Ryan, you set the bar very high.
This is an extraordinary resource if you're starting out in Rails. Content of this quality is not usually free, so if it has helped you out, think about donating via the PayPal link on the website.
Ryan Bates' explanations are clear, concise, and to the point. A picture is worth a thousand words. Railscasts have taught me a great deal in a relatively short amount of time. Books are useful too, but I can't imagine learning Rails without Railscasts.
I am a noob when it comes to web development. I've been debating between using Django or Rails. This podcast sealed the deal for me and I can't get enough of it. Thanks Ryan. Keep up the great work!
These 5-10 minute screencasts are an excellent length - plenty of content, but still easy to digest. Production quality is excellent, and the subjects are well selected. A great way to keep up on Rails and to build your knowledge. I know, because I'm pretty new to Rails and have learned a lot from Ryan's shows. Thanks Ryan!
I just have thanks to Ryan, because, Railscasts is the right place for those than are starting in Rails world and for advanced users too, the union of the simple and the complex of a didactic way. Thanks Ryan, i pay a beer for you some day.
This podcast showcases tricks, tips and features of ruby on rails (which has quite a large scope).. What I love the most is that each episode is short, focussed on a single item and jumps write in at the examples. The stuff just registers well in the head...
I just started following this series and so far all of the episodes have been presented extremely well, are easy to follow and very professionally organized. Absolutely fantastic.
Just wanted to share my praise for Ryan and the Railscasts series. I couldn't live without the pointers and tips that he presents. Thank you and keep them coming!
Ryan,
Im a n00b to the world of Rails, and to development in general coming from the designer side. For the past 6 months i have been buried in tutorials and books about RoR. And so far i have found your short precise podcasts to be some of the best learning instruments on the web. You explain things very well, and the manner in which you present your information, enables me to easily grasp the entire concept. Thank you for taking the time to give to the community.
The episodes cover the things you know you want to do in Rails and believe are possible, but might not have experience doing. Each video contains just enough information to be useful, and not so much that it becomes overwhelming.
Ryan explains both basic and advanced features of Rails, and makes it easy to understand how to be a better Rails programmer.
Highly recommend these screencasts.
These podcasts are awesome. Very focused and digestible -- there's no extraneous information to clutter up your learning. And they're so short you can watch 4-5 on your lunch break every day!
Ryan Bates's excellent video podcast series Railscasts has enabled me to begin programming real rails applications. As a programmer who was never an expert in other languages, moving from well documented PHP to Ruby/RoR was hard. Ruby (and RoR especially) lack the tutorials that PHP does and so learning it has been tough, and if it weren't for the huge fanfare of Rails and the excellent Railscasts produced by Ryan, I would have hopped off this train a long time ago.
Total newbies should start at episode one and build up, but even experienced programmers can learn from Ryan's lessons. He goes between teaching coding techniques, solving complex and common user problems, highlighting plugins and gems, and discussing smart coding practices. Each week I look forward to the new episode, and I often integrate some skill or technique I learn from each episode into my budding application.
Thanks Ryan!
These podcasts are one of the best podcasts if it comes to Ruby On Rails.
Each podcast is short, sweet and with a human touch. The material taught is exactly where the books leave you with a question mark over your head.
Well done!
I appreciate the work you do for us viewers. I really like your podcast. It is professional and clear and has helped me a lot in my projects.
I had one request though. If you could do one episode on how to deploy the Rails application as I cannot find good resource online or have any clue on how to deploy my created rails application.
I am just learning rails and this podcast is really fantastic at teaching. I have used this in conjunction with a few books and now feel I am well on my way. Ryan's quick podcasts breaks down simple subjects into easily consumable forms which allow me to solve my problems quickly and easily, without having to ask a mailing list or a forum for pointers. He has a ton of great topics, check them all out!
While you need to know something about Rails before you jump into these, each lesson in this series contains well focused, practical advice. The explanations are lucid and to the point. Just what a beginning Rails programmer needs to take it to the next level.
Excellent podcast. I love the podcasters style of writing the code as he explains it, which gives a nice impression of his obvious competency and understanding of the material he's presenting.
I have to admit that I have gained more knowledge & understanding from watching Ryan's podcasts than from all the books that I have bought so far. To be able to pick out the tutorials that pertain to my current development situation(s) has excelled my comprehension of the RoR language and techniques. I recommend this to anyone who is trying to wrap their minds around the technology and who wants to learn proper techniques in developing RoR applications. Thanks Ryan and please keep up the great work!
Jason L. West, Sr.
13yr Web Application Development
For the beginner these podcasts are a valuable resource. They fill in gaps and round out details and techniques that other leaning materials leave behind. The series has in a logical progression so it's best to start with episode one and work your way forward. The examples are very clear and well thought out.
An excellent source of information on Rails, at a level that is both easy to understand, and valuable for both basic, and intermediate-level developers. Ryan covers important topics and techniques in Rails, while adhering to, and revealing to the viewer, a lot of best-practices.
I've developed in rails for about 18 months now and I learn a lot from watching this podcast since there's always a little trick or two which I can learn. Very worthwhile.
It is a fantastic resource for nuggets of rails goodness. Ryan is an amazing guy for doing this and putting it out into the public domain. I have not watched one yet that has not given me multiple ideas on how I can improve my code for my current project. I wish I could hire Ryan to come sit with me for a week to pair program with. My knowledge would increase dramatically. As it is - this is the best resource I have found to date to give clear meaningful ways to accomplish specific tasks with rails. If you have any inclinations to use Ruby or Rails definitely check this out.
I have been a web developer for 12 years and working with Rails for 2 years so a lot of the Railscasts are review for me, but I continue to rewatch them to keep these techniques fresh in my mind.
I have also recommended Railscasts to friends who are making the transition to Rails from J2EE and they love the combination of Railscasts and the Agile Web Development with Rails book which has allowed them to get up to speed in record time.
Kudos to Ryan for producing one of the most important resources that the Rails community has access to.
