I’m really pleased to announce that my book Jump Start Sinatra has just been published in electronic format.
The book is small, which is fitting because Sinatra is too (but perfectly formed!). The idea is the same as with all the books in the Jump Start series – you can read it over a weekend and quickly get up to speed with Sinatra.
Jump Start Sinatra dives straight into using Sinatra in Chapter One, covering installation and some basic examples. After this, I explain how to build a modular, database-driven website from start to finish in a tutorial format. Sinatra allows you to develop applications rapidly with minimal fuss using an expressive syntax that’s simple to follow. It’s fast and stable, without tying your hands with enforced conventions.There are no barriers to entry; all you need is a text editor. Some experience of Ruby would help, but as long as you’re familiar with a bit of programming and HTML, you should be fine.
In the book, I cover using ERB and Slim to create views, using CSS preprocessors such as Sass, connecting to a database using DataMapper, using Sinatra’s configuration options and helper methods, using CoffeeScript to take the pain out of JavaScript, as well as deploying applications to the Heroku service. It also covers developing your own Sinatra extensions and middleware, as well as making modular applications that can be used as Rack middleware.
By the time you finish reading, you should have everything you need to know to go on and build a fully functioning web application. Sinatra gives you the tools to put your Ruby code onto the Web, then jumps out of the way to let you get on with developing your application your way. Whether you want to build a small and simple website, massive database-driven application, or the next big social media sensation, this book will give you the tools you need to get started.
You can download a sample chapter and buy the book from here. Go on … make your Ruby projects sing!
Darren JonesDarren loves building web apps and coding in JavaScript, Haskell and Ruby. He is the author of Learn to Code using JavaScript, JavaScript: Novice to Ninja and Jump Start Sinatra.He is also the creator of Nanny State, a tiny alternative to React. He can be found on Twitter @daz4126.
