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How to learn Ruby and Ruby on Rails
It made me 
"Although I'm far from a master, I've definitely learned the language enough to not need a book or cheat sheet with about 50 percent of the time."
How I did it: I'm an autodidact that loves learning through books.
Basically, I would spend time reading a little bit at a time out of one book at a time, then work with the computer on the exercises provided in the books. I find that books with exercises in them help me more to learn than reading theory.
If married, it sure doesn't hurt to have a spouse who supports you studying at home. It's cheaper than going to college again.
Finally, I've found that having a paper copy and a digital copy works pretty well. I can take the paper copy of the book with me, but have the digital copy on the computer for working on the exercises. A dual monitor setup really works well with that, so you can keep your digital book (like a PDF) open on one monitor, and your browser and text editor open on the other.
Lessons & tips:
- Read reviews of books on Amazon.com, then pick the best ones either from Amazon, your library or your local bookstore.
- Pick books that are a good fit with your current understanding of the subject.
- Set reminders on a calendar and stick with it.
- Have 43things send you an e-mail every week as a gentle reminder, so that you don't slack off. It worked for me.
Resources: Books
Learn to Program, by Chris Pine
Rails Solutions, by Justin Williams
Simply Rails 2, by Patrick Lenz (highly recommended)
My blog about the experience
smallshock.rumblestrut.com
