There’s a variety of screencasts and podcasts available for Ruby on Rails developers. Here’s a quick rundown of the major ones, and how they differ.
Podcasts
Audio podcasts are great for listening on the go, and for things such as news and interviews.
Tutorial: Learning Rails
Our own Learning Rails series consists of 8 podcasts that cover the fundamental concepts behind Ruby on Rails.
People: Ruby on Rails Podcast
The longest-running podcast in the Rails world is the “official” Ruby on Rails podcast, first created by Scott Barron but produced for most of its life by Geoffrey Grosenbach. This is a great series of interviews with many of the leading developers in the Ruby and Rails world.
News: Rails Envy
The Rails Envy podcast comes out every week and provides a fantastic summary of the latest developments in the Rails world. It’s put together by Gregg Pollack, Jason Seifer, and Steven Bristol, who diligently track a wide variety of Rails blogs to provide you with a distilled and entertaining weekly update.
Screencasts
Screencasts let you watch what’s going on on the screen while the presenter explains what they’re doing. It’s like looking over the shoulder of a developer while they work. Screencasts are a great teaching tool.
Learning Rails
Our Learning Rails screencast series shows how to build a simple web site using Ruby on Rails, step-by-step. Designed for people who are new to Ruby on Rails.
Envycasts
Envycasts is the latest entrant into the Rails screencasts business. They’re created by the Rails Envy folks, Gregg Pollack and Jason Seifer, who bring their trademark wit and creative production to advanced technical screencasts. There’s nothing else like them. Priced at $9 each.
Railscasts
Ryan Bates has producing more than 100 free Railscasts screencasts. They’re short episodes focused on a single feature of Rails, and are a great way to learn how to do specific things with Rails.
Peepcode
Geoffrey Grosenbach’s Peepcode are the gold standard for Ruby on Rails screencasts. At $9 each, they aren’t free, but they’re still a great value. They’re typically about an hour long and deeply explore specific topics, from Git to rSpec.
Pragmatic Screencasts
The Pragmatic Programmer, well known for their Ruby and Rails books, has teamed with Mike Clark of Pragmatic Studio, a leading provider of Rails training, to produce the Pragmatic Screencasts. The 20 to 30 minutes screencasts cost $5 each. So far, most of them are not about Ruby or Rails, but there is a series by Ryan Bates on “Everyday Active Record.”
RubyPlus
Bala Paranj has produce more than 70 free screencasts on various Ruby and Ruby on Rails techniques at RubyPlus.org.
Coderpath
Miles K. Forrest recorded a few early Rails screencasts at coderpath a couple years ago. He’s been quiet since, but he’s talking about restarting the series.
Zenunit Sensei
A short series of Rails screencasts, free for now with some talk of paid screencasts in the future, at Zenunit Sensei. From Australia, apparently by Julian Leviston.