Learning Rails 5

Chapter 1. Starting Up Ruby on Rails

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.

T. S. Eliot

Before you can use Rails, you have to install it. Even if it’s already installed on your computer, you may need to consider upgrading it. In this chapter, we’ll take a look at some ways of installing Ruby, Rails, and the supporting infrastructure. Please feel free to jump to whatever pieces of this section interest you and skip past those that don’t. Once the software is working, we’ll generate the basic Rails application, which will at least let you know if Rails is working. However you decide to set up Rails, in the end you’re going to have a structure like that shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1. The many components of a Rails installation

Note

All of these options are free. You don’t need to spend any money to use Rails, unless maybe you feel like buying a nice text editor.

If You Run Windows, You’re Lucky

Windows users have two options for getting a basic installation of Rails and supporting tools—everything you need to use this book—far more easily than anyone else: EngineYard’s RailsInstaller and Bitnami’s Ruby Stack. Each of these installers provides all the key components in a one-click installation. Visit the site and download the installer; after that, you should be ready to move ahead to “Starting ...