Learning a new language and a new framework can be daunting. What you need is a guide to help leverage your existing knowledge and skills, and show you just what you need to know to get up and running with a new system quickly.

You’re already a .NET developer; we’ll help you get up and running as a Ruby on Rails developer on any operating system: Windows, Mac, or Linux. We start with a gentle introduction to the object-oriented Ruby language with examples and direct comparisons to C#, so you’ll quickly feel at home writing Ruby code for the first time.

We then get to the heart of Rails development by showing how to tackle everyday tasks in Rails compared with typical ASP.NET implementations, with a tutorial focus. You’ll build a sample airline reservation system using Rails, learning essential techniques along the way. You’ll come to learn the joy and power inherent in the “convention over configuration” philosophy, the natural elegance of the MVC architecture, and the essence of REST-based design as you develop applications that accommodate web browsers, handheld devices, and even XML web service clients with unparalleled ease.

Along the way, you’ll see good agile development practices, explore test-driven development with Rails. You’ll be prepared for real-world application deployment, and we’ll give you a taste of how Ruby and Rails are reshaping the Microsoft application landscape, including a look at IronRuby.

• Source code
• Errata
• Releases

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Jeff Cohen has worked with object-oriented programming languages and Microsoft application frameworks for more than 15 years. A former MCSD, he is now a Ruby on Rails core contributor. He is the founder of Purple Workshops and conducts training classes for agile software teams. Jeff is also a senior software engineer at Leapfrog Online.

Brian Eng is the founder of Bluebuzzard, a provider of web-based sales solutions for the hospitality industry, and a freelance Ruby on Rails developer and consultant. He has 12 years of software development experience, the last 3 with Rails, and is an MCSD for Microsoft .NET.

Jeff and Brian write about their transition from .NET technologies to Rails on their blog, Softies on Rails (http://softiesonrails.com).