I have recently begun the process of trying to learn Ruby/Rails and have been making my way through Agile Web Development with Rails (3rd Ed.). While the content of the book is great I really wish I had either a cheatsheet or a checklist of some sort that describes the steps one should take in order to create an application, and the proper syntax for doing so without taking up hundreds of pages. In essence I would love something that just gives the “broad strokes” of app development and some of the associated syntax while leaving the specifics to be learned by practice and attempting to create a “real” project.
I feel as if I understand the basic theory of how a Rails application works but need a crutch as I go through the development process for something other than a sample app you would find in a book. Are there any resources that would help in this situation? Or what would the best approach in my situation be?
Check out Getting Started with Rails. This guide/checklist covers Installing Rails, creating a new Rails application, and connecting your application to a database, the general layout of a Rails application, the basic principles of MVC (Model, View Controller) and RESTful design and how to quickly generate the starting pieces of a Rails application.
You can also find a printable Rails on Rails cheat sheet here.