[BillinghamJ]

I'd definitely say no. Going from little knowledge straight into Rails teaches terrible habits imo, and indeed it doesn't tend to be used for new projects much any more.

When you're learning to find your feet with software engineering, I'd strongly recommend avoiding languages where the emphasis on everything being "magic". It doesn't help you learn how things actually work.

[ctrager]

So, what actual book/tutorial would you recommend for somebody who wanted to learn web development? Regardless of the problems with Rails itself, what's a better learning path that the Rails Tutorial?

[BillinghamJ]

I wouldn't. Just need to get stuck in and keep Googling anything you don't understand. Best thing you can do is find a friend who knows a bit about programming to show you what they know.

[hosh]

Unless you dig into the magic to learn how it works.

[zumu]

Arguably digging into Rails source code will

> teach... terrible habits imo