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It seems like everyone has their own Ruby on Rails book these days. The web development framework, released less than three years ago by Internet 2.0 darlings 37signals, has quickly become a driving force on the web, attracting interest from major players like Amazon.com and C|Net. It's still a young framework -- if you happened to have been involved with Rails before 2006, you're as good an expert as any. Christian Hellsten and Jarkko Laine, a pair of accomplished software consultants from Finland, pretty much fall under that category. Their rookie effort, Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional, separates itself from the oncoming barrage of introductory Rails texts by guiding readers through the development of an online bookstore from start-to-finish.

The online bookstore project begins humbly, but quickly expands into a web-ready e-commerce site. After implementing basic site navigation and authentication, you'll move on to more specific e-commerce issues like order processing, localization and security, all while implementing a heavy dose of test cases. The final two chapters are devoted to deploying your fully functioning application and optimizing it for the web. The book's second half is its strongest, since the topics aren't easily found elsewhere, but the testing practices and coding tips you'll pick up from the beginning are invaluable.

Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce is not for everyone. Not only does it assume some prior knowledge of web application development, whether it's in Rails or some other language, but the book also throws a lot of concepts at you all at once. Database migrations, integration testing with domain specific languages (DSLs), many-to-many table relationships -- you'll see them all before you've exhausted 80 pages, and it can seem like a small mountain to climb. As mentioned earlier, Rails E-Commerce features a near-religious use of test-driven development and other agile practices. If you're the type of person that would rather leave testing to someone else, or you're still chained to the waterfall model, this may not be the book for you.

Ruby on Rails E-Commerce is a well written, project-driven text that covers a wide array of e-commerce implementation topics. Despite being a bit dense, it somehow remains clear and concise with just the right amount of humour. Whether you're starting a Ruby on Rails e-commerce project or just looking to hone your skills, Beginning Ruby on Rails E-Commerce makes for a pretty good read.

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