Post by Peter Cooper on July 23rd, 2007

10 Great New Ruby / Rails Screencasts from July 2007

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Railscasts, maintained by Ryan Bates, continues to release one great free screencast after another, with 9 so far this month, although we're going to include one from June 29 for good measure. We first looked at Railscasts a few months ago, so if you haven't visited again since, it's worth it. Here are the latest screencasts:

  • Testing Without Fixtures - Fed up with using fixtures for your tests? Find a better way.
  • will_paginate - A look at the "new way" to do pagination in Rails using the will_paginate plugin.
  • Updating Through Checkboxes - How to perform actions on multiple items selected with checkboxes in a Rails view.
  • Handling Exceptions - Learn about exceptions and how to handle them in Rails apps.
  • The Logger - No, it's not about felling trees. Learn how to send messages to the log and how to customize it.
  • How to Make a Generator - A look at building your own generator, much like the ones that come with Rails.
  • Optimistic Locking - How to resolve situations when two people want to update the same record at the same time.

At the same time, Geoffrey Grosenbach, curator of PeepCode (and a new sponsor of Ruby Inside), has been storming ahead with his own set of screencasts, a few of which will be of direct interest to Rubyists / Rails developers:

  • rSpec Basics - A look at Behavior Driven Development. An ideal starting point if you haven't touched BDD yet but have been intrigued.
  • Rails From Scratch: Part I - A great up-to-date introductory "course" for getting into Rails. Even includes a free 20 page reference guide to Ruby and Rails, and an introduction to Ruby syntax. It's everything a new Rails developer needs.
  • Rails From Scratch: Part II - Another 80 minutes of great introductory material for new Rails developers.

While Railscasts' screencasts are totally free, Peepcode screencasts cost $9 each, but for the great packaging, length, and total depth of the material covered, they're still bargains!

5 Responses to “10 Great New Ruby / Rails Screencasts from July 2007”

  1. #1
    David Parker Says:

    Ryan's screencasts are great little snippets. Geoffrey's are also worth every penny. You can buy them in a pack of 5 or 10 and save some cash... I've bought 7- 2 individually and a pack of 5... definitely worth it overall!

  2. #2
    Dejan Dimic Says:

    Railscasts by Ryan Bates are one of the best, if not the BEST, informative screen casts about the Rails and development with it.

    I cherish all of them as a great learning material for my younger colleagues, in Rails development terms.

    Ryan surprise me every time with new ideas and themes and it seams that he has a great sensitivity about what we as Rails developers need and what arrays should be more clarified.

    I personally want to give a tribute to Ryan hopping that he will continue to make such great place for learning not just about Rails but about software developer attitude also.

    Ryan, we salute You!

  3. #3
    taco Says:

    luv Ryan's casts. I bought one from PeepCode and no offense, but Geoffrey's voice drives me crazy. had to stop watching halfway thru.

  4. #4
    cbmeeks Says:

    Those screen casts are great!

    http://eblarg.com

  5. #5
    Rafael Says:

    Hi
    I also catch every episode, but from both of them. I really like the tipps and also the more indepth screencasts from geoffrey.
    peepcodes episodes could even be a little more advanced I think.
    But anyway, it gives a good start for beginners! ...And even for a post-beginner as I am, there are always some useful hints