What You’ll Learn

Object-oriented programming with Ruby

Managing versions of your code base and collaborating with other programmers using Git

The Model/View/Controller (MVC) paradigm, Active Record, Action View, Action Controller, Action Mailer, and Action Job.

Data modeling and relationships such as belongs_to, has_one, has_many, has_many: through, and polymorphic relationships, as well as delegation and self-joins

Working with the Ruby on Rails test suite as well as RSpec

Extending Ruby on Rails with additional gems (plugins) from the community

Working with various data formats beyond HTML such as JSON, XML, and third-party APIs

How to build your own API using Ruby on Rails

Deploying web applications to Heroku and storing remote images on Amazon S3

Syllabus

Download Syllabus PDF

Introduction to Ruby on Rails

Scaffolding

The Scaffold command
Overview of Models, Views, and Controllers (MVC)

Adjusting the Templates Created by Scaffolding

Formatting in Rails
Working with Dynamic web pages
Editing the text in the tab
Redirecting the homepage URL
Editing the CSS

Version Control with Git

Initializing a repository
Commiting and Pushing changes
Creating, switching, and deleting branches
Merging branches

Ruby Fundamentals

Ruby Data Types & Variables

String, Integer, Float, Boolean and Nil values
Properties of Ruby data types
Instance variables & Local variables
Global variables

Functions & Control Flow

Built-in functions
Creating your own functions
Passing arguments and returning values
If/Else and Unless Statements
While/Until Loops

Ruby Data Structures

Arrays: The Simplest Collections
Hashes
Enumerators
Common Iterators

Classes

Creating classes
Inheritance
Class Methods
Overriding Methods

Controllers and Views

Generating a Controller

Creating a New Rails Site for Flix
How Controller methods relate to views
Private methods
The params hash

Views

Generating and creating Views
When you don't need a View
Mapping Views to controller actions and routes
Dynamic Views
The rails routes command

Models & Forms

Models

Generating a Model
How Migration Files work
Migratiing the Database
Rolling back a migration

Rails Forms

Rails forms vs HTML forms
HTTP Overview
Rails Form Helpers
Rails forms: form_for, form_tag, and form_with
Connecting a form to a Model

Uploading Files

Installing ActiveStorage
Allowing users to upload images

Views

Creating a View
Adding Dynamic Data
Rendering a Partial
Optional Bonus: Rendering a View

Advanced Models

Model Validations

The purpose of validations
Adding basic validations
Preventing submission of empty forms
Customizing validations
Adding Error Messages

Model Methods

Built-in Model methods
Adding methods to models

Model Relationships

has_one and belongs_to relationships
has_and_belongs_to_many: Simple Many-to-Many Relationships
has_many, through: Advanced Many-to-Many Relationships with Additional Metadata
Polymorphic Relationships

Other Important Relationships in Rails

Delegates: Sharing Methods Between Related Objects
Self-Joins: Relationships Between Instances of the Same Model

ActiveRecord Associations

Model Relationships

Has_one and belongs_to relationships
Has_many relationships
Joining models together via the controller
Writing Simple Tests Using Fixtures
Optional Bonus: Writing Tests Using Embedded Ruby Code
Additional Bonus: Helpers

Integrating Front-end Code

Rails Asset Pipeline

What the Asset Pipeline does
Adding CSS
Adding JavaScript
Conditional CSS and JavaScript files

Launching an Application

Preparation

Managing Ruby environments
Locking Gem versions
Environment variables

Amazon Web Services

Setting up an AWS account
Where to store credentials
Remote Asset Storage with Amazon S3

Heroku

Heroku Account Setup
Installing Heroku Toolbelt
How Heroku works
Types of Dynos
Deploying your application

This Course is Available Live Online

You can attend this training live online at the scheduled time the course is offered (New York, Eastern Time) through screen-sharing software Zoom (free for you).
Our live online training is interactive and hands-on, just like our in-person classes. There are no extra fees and we’ll work with you to ensure your setup is perfect

Classes are activity-based and taught by a live instructor.

You can hear the instruction, ask questions, and share your screen—all in real-time.

See What Students Are Saying About Live Online

“Overall experience on Zoom was maybe even better than in IRL classroom because the instruction takes place right on your own screen, with less distraction. Great overall experience.”
“Given the fact that we had to do this entire class remotely due to Covid-19, I didn’t have very high expectations it would run so smoothly. However, I don’t think it could’ve gone any better. Not only do I feel very comfortable with the program now, but I’m actually excited to use it!”
“This was the first online class I’ve taken with ND and it was a great experience. Looking forward to the other classes I’ve signed up for!”

Learn how to build the back-end of websites!

In this 60-hour course, students will learn to take their websites to the next level with Ruby! Ruby is revered for its object-oriented nature and the large collection of open source Ruby code. Ruby is also remarkably readable, which enables developers to create projects faster with less self-documentation. Learn one of the most popular back-end programming languages today!

More about Ruby on Rails and our Bootcamp

What is Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails is a web application framework that allows you to build modern and reliable applications and websites. It enables you to create everything from a meal-kit delivery service to the backend server for an iOS app.

Ruby on Rails accomplishes this by generating all the boilerplate code that you won't change, while at the same time making it incredibly simple to modify the parts of your application that you intend to customize. This means you'll spend little-to-no time on things like connecting a database or choosing a server, and more time on things that make your app stand out.

Why Should You Learn Ruby on Rails?

Speed of Development

Ruby on Rails allows you to build a variety of applications in a fraction of the time. This presents major advantages to companies, who are able to quickly generate working prototypes to develop and refine their ideas (a.k.a minimum viable product).

Another one of Rails's strengths is building database-backed applications. If you're the type who doesn't dream in SQL – or you don't even know what SQL is – Rails is an excellent choice because you can still accomplish effective database-equipped applications thanks to one of its many built-in tools, ActiveRecord. ActiveRecord is like a bilingual translator that knows both Ruby and SQL. It takes your Ruby code and executes database queries on your behalf, so you don't have to spend time learning the syntax of SQL while still having the benefits of persistent data.

Works Well with Other Libraries

Of course, this does not mean that Rails is only great for functionality. Because of the maturity of the framework, a lot of popular front-end libraries such as Angular, React, Vue, and jQuery all integrate well with it. For this reason, Rails stands out from other web application frameworks. It allows you to work on both functionality and design while enabling you to choose where you want to specialize. Of course, you can get just about any web framework to function with front-end libraries, but Rails is unique in that its core functionality allows you to set options (called flags) during setup that will build your application the additional files and folders you need based on the library you specify. This takes the guesswork out of connecting your tools which you can devote to – you guessed it – actually building your app!

Effective Development Philosophy

On top of the usability advantages, one of the most overlooked benefits of the framework is that it teaches its users how to organize an application sensibly. Even if you don't know Rails very well, you probably know where in your code to find whatever it is you need. A "controller" file will be in the "controllers" folder, and a "model" in the "models" folder. And where would you find "views" (things related to what your app's users will actually see)? These go in the views folder, of course!

In the Rails community, we call this mode of thinking "Convention over Configuration." We use this thinking because conventions for back-end programming tend to suffice when it comes to application design, and they also make it easy for developers to collaborate and help one another. It's a lot easier to get help when the file that contains the routes to your application is definitely called "routes.rb" and not whatever someone was feeling like naming it on a Monday morning.

Consequently, even if you don't end up working with Ruby on Rails in your day-to-day, the lessons you learn from it will likely follow you for the rest of your career.

Ruby Reads Like English

Any Rails advocate would be remiss if they did not mention that Ruby (the language Rails is built on) is language well-known for being among the easiest to read and write. The creator of Ruby, Yukihiro Matsumoto, designed the language with developer happiness and productivity in mind. Ruby handles things like memory management and checking what data type a specific piece of information is for you. What does that mean? It means you have to write less code! I'll let the language speak for itself.

Say Hello to the city in Ruby:
puts "Hello New York City!"

And the same thing in Java:
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello New York City!")
}
}

You might be thinking, "Well, the Java version really isn't so bad!" If that's you, then there's something you should know: that code won't even run properly because I "forgot" to add a semi-colon at the end of the line that prints the statement. If you add the semi-colon, it works. But spare a moment to imagine how it might feel spending your time reading through your own code, or having a demonstration go awry simply because you forgot to add that one thing. Because of differences like these, choosing Ruby over other languages often directly results in time saved in both the build phase and in the future when you have to read completed code.

The Ruby on Rails Course at NextGen Bootcamp

Our Ruby on Rails course is 60 hours of learning back-end programming, front-end development, and source code management, all in engaging lessons that will take your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills to the next level.

We'll start with a brief introduction to the command line and introduce the fundamentals of the Ruby programming language itself. Once you're comfortable with Ruby, we'll move on to learning commands that are specific to Rails such as how to create a new project and how to streamline your workflow with scaffold generators. Here, you'll learn how a back-end programming language can dramatically increase your productivity as a developer.

After witnessing the power of programming in web development, we'll revisit some Ruby before diving into Model-View-Controller architecture, where we'll learn how to get information from our application's users, store that information, and control the flow of an application from one screen to another. Finally, we'll cover all the things you'd expect in a modern service such as dynamic web pages, complex HTML forms, and handling files uploaded by your users.

If you're ready to go beyond design and create beautiful and functioning applications with a framework designed to meet deadlines, then this part-time Ruby on Rails course is the one for you!

More Web Design & Development Classes

This Ruby on Rails Bootcamp assumes prior knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Those looking to meet those prerequisites and gain the skills to code the front-end of websites should attend our 2-week Web Development course which teaches HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

We also offer our Full Stack Developer certificate program that includes app development, front-end web development (pre-req to Ruby), and the Ruby bootcamp.

Additionally, if students are interested in learning Java, Python, and Data Science, check out our Software Engineering Immersive.

What You’ll Learn

Learn with Hands-on Projects

Syllabus

Introduction to Ruby on Rails

Scaffolding

Adjusting the Templates Created by Scaffolding

Version Control with Git

Ruby Fundamentals

Ruby Data Types & Variables

Functions & Control Flow

Ruby Data Structures

Classes

Controllers and Views

Generating a Controller

Views

Models & Forms

Models

Rails Forms

Uploading Files

Views

Advanced Models

Model Validations

Model Methods

Model Relationships

Other Important Relationships in Rails

ActiveRecord Associations

Model Relationships

Integrating Front-end Code

Rails Asset Pipeline

Launching an Application

Preparation

Amazon Web Services

Heroku

Schedule & Enrollment

July 27–August 7

Monday to Friday, 10–4pm

This Course is Available Live Online

See What Students Are Saying About Live Online

Online Training Demo

Learn how to build the back-end of websites!

Learn Real-World Design & Coding Skills

29 Years of Experience

Highly Reviewed by Our Alumni

More about Ruby on Rails and our Bootcamp

What is Ruby on Rails?

Why Should You Learn Ruby on Rails?

Speed of Development

Works Well with Other Libraries

Effective Development Philosophy

Ruby Reads Like English

The Ruby on Rails Course at NextGen Bootcamp

More Web Design & Development Classes

Related Classes & Certificates

Web Development Summer Camp

App Development Summer Camp

Full-Stack Developer Summer Program

Python for Data Science Summer Camp