How to write a Rails application
How I did it: 1. Took the Big Nerd Ranch's Rails program. Promptly tried to use after the class, and then didn't work on rails for about 6 months. Not a good idea.
2. Found an itch to scratch. Conjugate Latin Verbs.
3. LEARNED RUBY, PURE RUBY. This was huge. By learning the features and power of Ruby and then implementing my code as libraries I was much better off in doing the Rails implementation.
4. Implemented the library as a command-line app. Again HUGE. This made me know I could get good data out.
5. Wrote EXHAUSTIVE test cases in Ruby, pure Ruby.
6. THEN the only particularly Rails thing was to scaffold the models and fill out the views. By putting my libraries in $RAILSDIR/lib and using the mixin aspect of Ruby I could import good stuff with only about 5% drift from the original base library.
7. LEARN CAPISTRANO. To deploy for real you need this.
8. Put it online!
Resources: Dreamhost Hosting
Rails
Phusion Passenger
