A lot has been happening at Omaha Code School. Looking back, I can hardly believe we’ve only been class 3 1/2 weeks. Let’s recap and make sure everyone is up to speed with where we are at.

OCS is structured in a very deliberate way. Learn the basics, and then build on top with more advanced topics. During the first week, we learned Ruby. It’s a programming language that prides itself with having readable code. It wasn’t hard to learn, and we were writing our first command line programs in no time.

Just when we thought we were understanding everything we switched from the command line to the browser. This was a game changer. I have had more experience than most in my class coding, but nothing like this. Defining routes and methods is a completely different way of thinking and took some time to get my head around.

After a little practice, it began to make sense. Unfortunately, we weren’t standing still. We learned about file storage, then SQL, then ActiveRecord. It was a lot to take in, but every step seemed to make life a little easier. Each layer added methods and helpers that can be used like Lego blocks to build whatever your heart desires.

This week we put it all together. We switched to using Rails as our framework and web server. It seemed pretty intimidating at first, but it’s started to grow on me. Rails is a framework, a set of rules. These rules force you to build your application a very particular way. Rails is also stubborn. If you don’t follow the rules, Rails refuses to work. It can be maddening at times. But once you get everything just right, it works beautifully.

With what we have learned so far, we can create almost anything. We even created our own blog from scratch. It’s amazing how a little Ruby, a database, and some CSS can create a sophisticated website. I can’t wait until we get to build some of the projects I have had rattling around in my head for the last couple years. Hopefully we’ll start publishing our sites online so I can share some of the things we are building.