If you are new to Ruby on Rails and looking a great resource to get you making your first application the correct way, I would recommend  Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example.

This book comes in three formats:  HTML, PDF, and video/screencast.  I personally bought the PDF/screencast combo.  The screencasts have some additional information/tips that are not captured in the text and I like being able to see how Michael Hartl works.

The HTML version is free, but I enjoyed having access to the PDF for offline viewing and being able to watch the screencasts.

I purchased this book a while back and Michael has done a very good job keeping the book updated as Rails 3 evolves.  It has been nice having a book to reference based on the recent version of Rails.

Here is an excerpt from the website:

The Ruby on Rails Tutorial helps you learn Rails by example through the development of a substantial sample application, including a site layout, a user data model, a full registration and authentication system, user-micropost associations, social “following”, and a feed of status updates. The Ruby on Rails Tutorial also teaches good software development practices, including version control with Git and GitHub, test-driven development (TDD) with RSpec, and instant deployment with Heroku. Though of necessity the book and screencasts focus on a specific sample application, the emphasis throughout the Rails Tutorial is on general principles, so you will have a solid foundation no matter what kind of web application you want to build.

I’ve been able to use the foundation of this book on 2 other applications, it has really helped me get up and started much quicker than in the past.

Let me know what you think.  Do you recommendations on other books or resources?

Great screencast on Cucumber and some RSpec.  Worth your 25 minutes.

This is a basic introduction to integration testing with cucumber. In it, I describe how to use cucumber and rspec to implement a feature in a web application, emphasizing the importance of writing tests before code, which is often referred to as TDD (test-driven development) or BDD (behavior-driven development, a refinement of the original TDD).

via Teach Me To Code – Introduction to Outside-in Development with Cucumber.

Writing Software not Code with Cucumber –
slides from Ruby Hoedown • Blog Archive • Ben Mabey.