And you should have a look at ‘Learn Ruby on Rails’:

http://learn-rails.com/learn-ruby-on-rails.html

It was written to prepare beginners for Michael Hartl's book.

Yes, I found it weird that the book is not on this list, but clearly the author is geared towards python - although web development might be the only area where Ruby outshines Python.

That's right, we created a Python/Django Learning Path because that's what we knew best (also, there seem to be fewer resources on the topic).

We'll be sure to check out the book for the Ruby version of the Path.

I think "Ruby outshines Python" is a matter of great debate, and I wouldn't say that one is universally better than the other, rather it depends on your application and personal preferences! I am the author of the path, and before we started building SlideRule, we evaluated Django/Python vs Ruby/Rails briefly .. I am a big fan of python, so the choice was obvious for me :-)

That said, this is just one web-dev path and doesn't in any way claim that Python is superior to the alternatives. There can be so many more - on RoR, Node or even more recent ones like scala .. hope experts will help us build those. If you are interested, please write to us at [email protected]!

Python, through SciPy/NUMPY is well positioned for the future of web development, which is a numerically driven world. I see Ruby as better PHP,. Lastly phython is more universal, which is good. So I do think Python is a really good choice for introductory programming.

Not joining the debates, but can you give an oversight on why future web will heavily rely on scientific application of the language?

Great book, thanks for posting!