Where to Go from Here

Congratulations! We’ve covered a lot of ground together.

In Part I, you installed Rails, verified the installation using a basic application, got exposed to the architecture of Rails, and got acquainted (or maybe reacquainted) with the Ruby language.

In Part II, you iteratively built an application, and built up test cases along the way. We designed this application to touch on all aspects of Rails that every developer needs to be aware of.

Whereas Parts I and II of this book each served a single purpose, Part III served a dual role.

For some of you, Part III methodically filled in the gaps and covered enough for you to get real work done. For others, these will be the first steps of a much longer journey.

For most of you, the real value is a bit of both. A firm foundation is required for you to be able to explore further. And that’s why we started this part with a chapter that not only covered the convention and configuration of Rails but also covered the generation of documentation.

Then we proceeded to devote a chapter each to the model, views, and controller, which are the backbone of the Rails architecture. We covered topics ranging from database relationships to the REST architecture to HTML forms and helpers.

We covered migration as an essential maintenance tool for the deployed application’s database.

Finally, we split Rails apart and explored the concept of gems from a number of perspectives, from making use of individual Rails components separately to making full use of the foundation upon which Rails is built and finally to building and extending the framework to suit your needs.

At this point, you have the necessary context and background to more deeply explore whatever areas suit your fancy or are needed to solve that vexing problem you face. We recommend you start by visiting the Ruby on Rails site and exploring each of the links across the top of that page.^[126] Some of this will be quick refreshers of materials presented in this book, but you’ll also find plenty of links to current information on how to report problems, learn more, and keep up-to-date.

Additionally, please continue to contribute to the forums mentioned in the book’s introduction.

Pragmatic Bookshelf has more books on Ruby and Rails subjects, as well as plenty of related categories that go beyond Ruby and Rails, such as technical practices; testing, design, and cloud computing; and tools, frameworks, and languages. You can find these and many other categories at http://www.pragprog.com/.

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Ruby on Rails as much as we’ve enjoyed writing this book!