Day 61: Ruby On Rails

Today marks the first day of actual Ruby on Rails. No more training wheels so goodbye Frank and Sinatra; may you rest in peace with Frank Sinatra. Bad joke, I get it.

Last night VT and I discussed studying today in the library for a change in scenery and to get away from the slow internet. So after algorithms and morning lecture we packed our bags and headed to the Santa Clara County library. There was a Safeway next door so we got some lunch first. The library was much cleaner and aesthetically pleasing with faster internet services provided. We buckled down and got started on the Rails chapter. I only finished half of the Frank chapter yesterday and wanted to do more but VT suggested that I let it go since the Rails setup will be much different than that stuff. I hate leaving things unattended but in the end I relented and began the new chapter.

I spent months struggling on this stuff and today I brushed through half of the model chapter with ease. Two Red Bulls also helped keep us focused. When the midway point was reached we encountered a problem and spend two hours working on it to no avail. Last week I had told VT about the Michael Hartl tutorial book and he suggested that we abandon the bootcamp schedule in favor of tutorial book for the remainder of the week. He pointed out that the bootcamp is doing a terrible job organizing the materials effectively and we wasted a week working on frameworks that didn't mean anything. I was against him initially: we paid to follow the course and I had too much of a bad experience reading the book on my own the first time that I don't want to go down that road just yet. But after more struggle and looking ahead to see that nothing else can get accomplished unless we solve this problem I relented and agreed to work on it.

There are 12 chapters in that book. The first Black Belt attempt for the Rails chapter will be held on Friday. That means that in order to prepare for it we have to cover at least four chapters a day. Having done this book earlier I figured the first four chapters should be a walk in the park. Turns out I was correct. After having studied the LAMP and MEAN stacks I have a much better understanding of how Rails is suppose to work and had an easier time piecing everything together.

I'm on chapter four and intend on finishing it before heading home for the night. This route is a little unconventional but not a big surprise. Coding Dojo teaches their students three full stacks so they can pick up new stacks on their own.

It's almost midnight, I'm freezing, partially starved, and staying awake from two Red Bulls but I feel amazing. The tutorial, this framework, has haunted me for almost half a year and now it's been unraveled with an ease I have never felt before. I might do in three days what I couldn't do in three months.