Over the last two years or so there’s definitely been an influx of people from Java, and that seems to be accelerating. Two of the developers I work with, in fact (Brian and Mike), are [somewhat] recent converts from Java; you’re definitely not alone.
With as much Java experience as you have, you probably don’t need a lot of hand-holding; but there are some concepts in Ruby might be somewhat foreign to you (depending on the rest of your background) — specifically concepts like block closures and the level of dynamicism present in the language. If you’re looking for books, I’d recommend you familiarize yourself with:
I think it’s important you get a firm grounding in the language before the framework, but here are some Rails (framework-level) books:
- Agile Web Development with Rails
- The Rails Way
- Rails Recipes (I like this better than “Rails Cookbook”); an up-to-date “Advanced Rails Recipes” is coming out soon.
- Ruby for Rails
Make sure you’re spending time:
- Reading code that highlights “best practices” (The Ruby Cookbook and Rails Recipes books above illustrate some examples); obviously like any community there are differences on opinion on what constitutes good, idiomatic Ruby, but I can give you some recommendations on specific projects
- Spending some time with Ruby developers (Austin on Rails is certainly a good place to start if you’re in the Austin, TX area); collaborate on an actual project if you can, but there’s value in just chatting, as well
- Following what’s going on in the Ruby community; there are a number of websites, mailing lists, and IRC channels that can help
I consider these steps far more important than a full bookshelf.
