RFTM: Craft goes into more than Just Beer….

RTFM this week is a choose your own adventure version:

Skip the BS prose and score 35% off on Crafting Rails Applications

Or continue on and see how deep the rabbit hole goes….

There are several classic problems in modern life: What is the shape of the pocket dimension that steals your socks out of the dryer; what is one to do if you don’t have a choice about getting into a land war in Asia; and how the hell do you manage to go from the realm of the innocent nube asking how you write exception specifications for a ruby method to having unicorns and leprechauns dancing at the sheer beauty of your ruby code?

The answer, dear reader, is simple: you copy people who are way smarter than you - and you have someone explain to you in intimate detail exactly what you just cargo cult cut and pasted. Let’s face it, we learn code by example. This is one of the reasons that getting your mind wrapped around good examples is so important. If you have poor coding role models, you’re unlikely to have good code.

So where a book like Advanced Rails Recipes was the goto guide for bite sized snippets of “how can I….” many moons ago, Crafting Rails Applications is the meta cookbook that deconstructs Rails 3 and helps you build the conceptual bridge between advanced beginner and seasoned journeyman.

But don’t take my word for it: Our friends at Pragmatic Publishing are so convinced that you’ll love the book that they’ve offered to let our RTFM friends download the first chapter for free.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll read the first three pages and use this handy dandy code (cough:zcraftingrails2011) to score this sweet piece of Rails technical insight for 35% off.

UPDATE: The discount code expires January 29, 2011. Quick, use it.

If you’re still not convinced, listen to our interview with the author of Crafting Rails and you’ll realize that a funny smart guy like this who chooses to commit to Rails deserves your $13US.

If that doesn’t convince you - you either already own the book - perhaps you’ve developed an interest in a more modern computing framework. Then again you might not have a need for this because you’ve got the best web scale tech available.

You still here? What are you waiting for - go buy the friggin’ book… and while you’re at it, feel free to follow us on twitter. Worried about missing out on tasty Ruby discounts? Worry no longer, sign up - we’ll let you know when our next discount drops.