[Ronsenshi]

I concur with lutusp and also recommend learning Python first (or at least raw Ruby).

Before you start working with huge, highly opinionated framework such as RoR, you should understand how programming in general works. ifs and elses, functional programming and object oriented programming, patterns etc.

Regarding your question. You have to be very persistent - there's a huge amount of stuff to learn. Months of active study and tinkering with tutorials and small projects.

If all you want is to whip out a login page and a blog, then maybe it'd be better to use a CMS?

[jamesfranco]

Thanks for your reply. Would you recommend this course by Udacity? https://www.udacity.com/course/cs046

Its in Java and seems to teach you how programming works. How difficult is it to transfer from Java to Ruby?

[Ronsenshi]

Programming is a very peculiar thing. Peculiar, because if you understand general concepts and ideas in programming, then learning various languages wouldn't be a problem at all (generally speaking, there are some exceptions).

That course you've picked is fine for basics of programming and even though a lot of people like to hate Java, it's a fine language and it'd be easy to start with it. As czardoz recommended, if you'd want to learn python, then learning python the hard way is also great book. I personally prefer that way of learning.

[stintaril]

I would take Udacity's CS101 course instead and then the Web Development Course they provide. This will give you a very good foundation for getting started. I have taken both and I highly recommend them.

The language you will use will be Python, but what is important are the fundamentals you will learn in these courses. You can then apply them to any language and framework you want to work with.

[czardoz]

If you do decide to learn Python, I would recommend http://learnpythonthehardway.org/. The book is thorough and assumes no prior knowledge at all.