This prepwork constitutes a basic introduction to programming designed to be accessible to everyone. It contains some selected readings to bring you up to speed on Ruby, plus some exercises for you to complete. All told, we expect the prepwork to take about 15hrs.
We believe that the time you invest in learning Ruby will be time well spent: the prep work constitutes a self-contained introductory course in programming, giving you skills that you will be able to apply to other parts of your life.
If you've already setup ruby, you may skip this section. Otherwise, please see the setup instructions document.
Note: The homework problems will not be found on Codeacademy - you must setup the web based ruby development environment.
First, do the required readings.
Please work on and submit these exercises before you arrive (submission details are below). These are required; we want you to be ready for class when it starts.
Test-First Ruby and Event Manager are due 3 weeks before your cycle begins. The Twitter clone is due the Friday before your cycle begins.
Test-First Ruby is a great way to test your Ruby knowledge. It gives you interactive feedback, so you can find and correct mistakes. It will also give you practice running RSpec tests (complete level 1 of CodeSchool's RSpec course if you need a refresher on RSpec).
The required exercises are 0-12 and 14. To begin work, go to the github page and click to download the ZIP file. Extract the ZIP and open the contained README.md. This will contain further instructions as to how to proceed.
When you're finished with Test First Ruby, send it to us (instructions below).
NB: the rake task will not work if you save it to a directory path
that includes a space. For instance, /Users/FNAME LNAME/learn_ruby
contains a space. If necessary, move the learn_ruby to a directory
path that doesn't contain a space.
Not required if you are doing the Post-Acceptance Prepwork as part of the application process and have not already enrolled into the class.
We want you to complete and turn in the Rails Tutorial before starting the class. We'll start with Ruby before moving into Rails, but we want you to have played around with Rails a little. Following along with the tutorial, build the Twitter clone that the book has you start in Chapter 3 (read and follow along with the earlier chapters, too, of course) and finish through the rest of the book.
Event Manager is a tutorial that walks you through writing your first Ruby program. Work through the tutorial, writing code. Type the code yourself instead of copy and pasting; that way you'll remember the commands better.
You can skip the iterations at the end of the tutorial.
When you've finished building the Event Manager, send it to us (instructions below).
When done, please zip your Test First Ruby folder (complete with instructions, specs, and your solutions) and mail it to us at [email protected]. Please also attach your Event Manager. If you are completing this after enrolling for the class, please send a link to your Twitter clone the Friday before your cohort begins.