Rails Cookbook - O'Reilly's Latest Release

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or an interview with
the author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7094 or kathrynb@oreilly.com 

O'Reilly Releases "Rails Cookbook" 
Recipes for Rapid Web Development with Ruby

Sebastopol, CA--With applications that are code-light, feature-full, and
built to scale quickly, Rails has revolutionized web development. Not only
has it been adopted with impressive speed and enthusiasm, but the vitality
of the Rails user community also promises that Rails adoption will
continue at an accelerated pace as the framework matures. For web
developers looking to be productive with Rails quickly, the new "Rails
Cookbook" (O'Reilly, US $39.99) by Rob Orsini, provides recipes that
address the everyday, real-world challenges they'll face on the path to
proficiency.

In preparation for writing the book, Orsini explains that he researched
the question of what the Rails community needed most in a cookbook: "I
collected data from the Rails mailing lists as well as from the most
active IRC channels," he recalls. "I wasn't very scientific about how I
processed the data, but I did get a feel for what were many of the most
commonly asked questions." Based on this, Orsini created the initial
outline of the book and ran it past as many Rails users as he could for
feedback. 

"While I hope that the book has something to offer Rails developers at all
experience levels," says Orsini, "I think it will best serve those with
web development experience, but who are new to Rails. That said, the book
includes a wide variety of topics ranging from basic to advanced."

Each recipe in the "Rails Cookbook" includes a solution to a problem, with
a discussion of how and why it works, so developers can adapt the
techniques to their specific situations.  "Rails has been a fast-moving
target," says Orsini. "I took care to make sure the book covers the new
features of Rails 1.2 within the body of recipes. To make the transition
to Rails 1.2 easier, the book includes an appendix detailing the changes
from the previous stable version of Rails (1.1.6)."  

"Rails Cookbook" is also available in PDF (US $19.99) beginning Feb. 5,
2007. Topics in the book include:

- Modeling data with the ActiveRecord library
- Setting up views with ActionView and RHTML templates
- Building an application's logic into ActionController
- Testing and debugging a Rails application
- Building responsive web applications using JavaScript and Ajax
- Ensuring applications are secure and perform well
- Deploying applications with Mongrel and Apache
- Using Capistrano to automate deployment

"Rails developers have their work cut out for them in terns of staying on
top of the ever-changing set of technologies that make up Rails
development," notes Orsini.  "I think this book includes a lot of the
investigative legwork, in a nicely organized and indexed format. While the
blogosphere has an amazing wealth of information on Rails, it still takes
time to go through and verify. This book has done much of that work and
more, so developers don't have to."

Rob Orsini is an open source developer living in northern California. He's
currently working for O'Reilly Media, in their production software group.
Previously, Rob was the webmaster at Industrial Light & Magic, where he
developed applications in support of the special effects industry. Rob has
been programming the web since 1998, and upon discovering Rails, hopes to
continue for many more years to come. Additionally, Rob is a jazz musician
and a loving father.

Background and Market Information:
http://del.icio.us/oreillymedia/railscookbook

Additional Resources:

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bio, and cover graphic, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527310/

Rails Cookbook
Rob Orsini
ISBN: 0-596-52731-4, 514 pages, Print: $39.99 US, $51.99 CA
PDF $19.99 (available Feb. 5, 2007)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
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Sebastopol, CA 95472

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