Welcome to the Treehouse Community
Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.
Looking to learn something new?
Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.
Start your free trial
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsRuby Track Installations - Getting Confused/Overwhelmed
First, I love teamtreehouse. I blazed through the HTML and CSS tutorials even though I already am very comfortable using those technologies. It was a nice refresher to run the tutorials and I learned some handy tips, resources, and best practices along the way.
Now that I'm ready to sink my teeth into more robust development, I feel like I've hit a roadblock - some are technical issues with the site and some involve too many different (and sometimes outdated) ways to install Ruby creating conflicts when I'm running each tutorial.
Technical Issue I sometimes use your new Treehouse app on my iPad. On the app, there are duplicates (for example, "How to Make a Website" is showing up twice). Also, they appear in a different order than they do on the website. So, while I think I'm following the path properly in-sequence on my iPad, I noticed I was running tutorials that are in fact locked in the desktop version. For example, I was running the "Console Foundations" on my iPad before I could have on the desktop. Conversely, I was running "Installing a Ruby Development Environment" in the proper order on my Desktop, but it shows up as completed much further down the track on my iPad.
Very confusing.
The Order Could Use Some Improvement There seems to be many references to using Github and using the Console. Shouldn't those be higher up in the track? They would be more useful to master to try to overcome some of the outdated techniques that happen later.
Different Ways to Install Ruby I can appreciate that there are many ways to install Ruby, but given that I'm following a single track, all of the tutorials in that track should be giving the same advice. If I've installed Ruby one way (using RMV for example), all the tutorials that end up using RBENV no longer apply to me.
Tutorial One: Github/Rbenv/ruby-build/Command Line Tools/
Tutorial Two: Railsinstaller/Git/RVM
Tutorial Three: GCC(Github)-(didn't work for me)/Homebrew/Git(shouldn't git have been installed before GCC?)/RVM
Outdated Ways to install Ruby On one tutorial the GIT way to install wasn't working for me and the RVM page is much different now on how to install it. After doing some digging around through documentation, I got it to work.
Suggestions Perhaps you can put a date when the tutorials were last updated so we can make an educated decision on which installation we should use?
Did I Mess Something Up? I'm so confused right now. The commands for RBENV and RMV are so different, I can't follow the tutorials properly. localhost:3000 isn't working anymore. I have so many different things your site has asked me to install now, are they in conflict with each other? How do I know what I have installed and how do I clean it up/delete them/update them, etc?
The tutorials seem to blaze through the installation process without getting a full in-depth understanding on what's actually going on. The approach seems to be "just type this and you'll be ok". The problem is that when your video becomes outdated, we can't troubleshoot it on our own. Or, if you're using RBENV in one video, how do we do it in RMV in the tutorial right after?
This isn't a flame post. I really do appreciate all the hard work the Treehouse team puts into the experience. I just need help getting over this daunting hurdle of understanding the "why" and "how" of installing Ruby and preferably sticking to only one way in a single track.
Help!
4 Answers
Robert Ho
Courses Plus Student 11,383 PointsI think since you are still new to the Ruby environment, you should follow the instructions in the videos that correspond to the course you are taking. So for example, in tutorial one (as you call it above), you go with the Github/Rbenv/ruby-build/Command Line Tools/ route, whereas in tutorial two you go with the Railsinstaller/Git/RVM route. This will allow you to decide for yourself what type of workflow you are more comfortable with and what options are available to you when you start developing your own projects.
The beauty of RVM is that you can actually switch versions of Ruby (from 1.9.3 to 2.0.0) on the command line and you can also create gem sets that cater to your project/application needs. An example would be something(s) like this:
In tutorial one, you will be using Ruby 2.0.0 with RoRails 4, so you can do something like "rvm use ruby 2.0.0" in the command line and rvm will switch your to Ruby version 2.0.0. Then you can create a gem set by doing "rvm gemset create [name of gemset]" which can contain your Rails 4 gem. But lets say you got a job doing development and your employer wants you to create a project using Rails 3.2.1 since they never learned Rails 4, well now you can just create a new gemset using the same command (with a different gemset name) and install Rails 3.2.1, and RVM will know to use Rails 3.2.1 in when you generate your new Rails project. I know this sounds a bit confusing for now, but once you go through the tutorials and do some more research, you'll get the hang of it.
Keeping your Ruby and gem environments organized will prevent future headaches as in the case stated above where jovanny stated that Rails 4 and the Devise gem don't play nice together.
Good luck!
Some links to documentation for reference:
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsThanks, Dustin. I didn't realize we could tag people here - how do I do this? You're right, some of these are probably best answered by their tech support team. I suppose my main question is still applicable to the general public, though: How do I clean up this installation mess and are there some better resources to understand ruby installations?
Dustin Matlock
33,856 PointsYou should be able to with: @jasonseifer
Jovanny Elias
16,204 PointsI had the same exact experience. I was using the old track were they show you how to create the treebook app only to realize in the end that Devise and Rails 4.1 don't work very well together. if you uninstall ruby and install ruby 3.2 which is what is used in the video everything will work like it says. I have read many post about the same issue and in one of them a staff member did comment that they are aware of the issue and are working on new ruby on rails tutorials which would be out very soon.
Since that time about 2-3 weeks ago I stopped the track and they actually have rearranged the courses as well as added a new tutorials on the newer version of ruby on rails. They go over how to create a to do list. I have yet to try this one out but it is updated and should work with the current ruby and ruby on rails version. They are still also working on other rails app tutorials so it does look like they are listening to us and changing the way the track is laid out.
If you are doing the treebook app I suggest 1 of two things to make your life simpler. 1- uninstall and reinstall rails 3.2 and not the current version 2- switch to the newer track version which is current and up to date.
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsThanks, Jovanny! I checked the Ruby website and it seems the latest stable version is 2.1.2 rather than 3.2? I do have the 2.1.2 version installed and I'm still running into issues.
Taylor Ham
Courses Plus Student 17,714 PointsTommaso, you're looking at the RUBY version, not the RAILS version. Check www.rubyonrails.org for the latest Rails release, which is 4.1. I ran into the exact same issue and was getting very frustrated with the differences. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll get a peek at their refreshed videos. For now, you'll want to install Rails v3.2 to continue with the tutorials.
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsThanks for the tip, Taylor. You're right, I was looking at Ruby and not Rails.
Jovanny Elias
16,204 PointsI have not used this however I keep reading great things about it. This is something I will be trying out soon.
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsGreat, thanks! I'll check it out.
Björn Steneram
5,523 PointsRails for Zombies are a good course to take in any case and i have taken it, but i still think that Treehouse gives you much more in depth knowledge of rails. Rails is updating frequently and my guess is that it's a challenge to keep all the courses up to date with the lastest versions of ruby & rails and you can't really expect that i guess :)
Setting up your development environment are something that can be a challenge in the beginning. Personally i looked up my local Ruby & Rails meetup group and they ran Rails installfest on regular basis. There i got the chance to get help from more experienced rails developers to set up my development environment and help me create my first rails app, they also helped me setup git and heroku etc. It was very helpful and i recommend everyone to do the same and plus it will help jumpstarting you right into the Rails community. After that i didn't have any real problems with my development environment anymore.
With the right tools you can run multiple ruby and rails installations on the same developer machine.
Tommaso Bufano
13,821 PointsThanks, Björn. I actually just signed up for a local meetup group. I'll reach out to them and see if they plan on having an installfest or at least suggest it to them.
Chris Dziewa
17,781 PointsI have finished Rails for Zombies 1 and 2 and half of Testing for Zombies. These are great courses. The first one does more hand holding and the second one gets difficult quickly. Rails for Zombies 2 along with Michael Hartl's Rails tutorial helped me to better understand the Rails course here. I would highly recommend any of these as a complement to the Rails material here.
Dustin Matlock
33,856 PointsDustin Matlock
33,856 PointsTommaso, it might help to contact support with this or tag Jason Seifer in the post to see if he can provide some advice.