Update Getting Start With Rails guide to account for Dev Containers

This commit updates the Getting Started With Rails guide to cover using rails-new, Docker and VScode to create and run a new app in a Dev Container.

The old instructions for installing Ruby and Rails locally on the developer's machine have been moved to their own guide, Installing Rials.

guides/source/getting_started.md

@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ This guide covers getting up and running with Ruby on Rails.
 
 After reading this guide, you will know:
 
-* How to install Rails, create a new Rails application, and connect your
-  application to a database.
+* How to create, set up, and run a Rails application (in a Dev Container)
 * The general layout of a Rails application.
 * The basic principles of MVC (Model, View, Controller) and RESTful design.
 * How to quickly generate the starting pieces of a Rails application.
@@ -72,92 +71,72 @@ By following along with this guide, you'll create a Rails project called
 `blog`, a (very) simple weblog. Before you can start building the application,
 you need to make sure that you have Rails itself installed.
 
-NOTE: The examples below use `$` to represent your terminal prompt in a UNIX-like OS,
-though it may have been customized to appear differently. If you are using Windows,
-your prompt will look something like `C:\source_code>`.
-
-### Installing Rails
-
-Before you install Rails, you should check to make sure that your system has the
-proper prerequisites installed. These include:
-
-* Ruby
-* SQLite3
+This guide helps you get set up with [Developer Containers (or Dev Containers for short)](https://containers.dev/)
+for a full-featured development environment. Dev Containers are used to run your
+Rails application in a container, without needing to install Rails or its dependencies
+directly on your machine. This is the fastest way to get your Rails application up and running.
 
-#### Installing Ruby
-
-Open up a command line prompt. On macOS open Terminal.app; on Windows choose
-"Run" from your Start menu and type `cmd.exe`. Any commands prefaced with a
-dollar sign `$` should be run in the command line. Verify that you have a
-current version of Ruby installed:
-
-```bash
-$ ruby --version
-ruby 3.1.0
-```
+Alternatively, to install Rails directly on your machine, you can read through the
+[Installing Rails guide](installing-rails.html)
 
-Rails requires Ruby version 3.1.0 or later. It is preferred to use the latest Ruby version.
-If the version number returned is less than that number (such as 2.3.7, or 1.8.7),
-you'll need to install a fresh copy of Ruby.
+### Setup and Installation
 
-To install Rails on Windows, you'll first need to install [Ruby Installer](https://rubyinstaller.org/).
+To get set up, you will need to install the relevant tools; Docker, VSCode and
+`rails-new`. We'll go into detail about each one below.
 
-For more installation methods for most Operating Systems take a look at
-[ruby-lang.org](https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/installation/).
+#### Installing Docker
 
-#### Installing SQLite3
+Dev Containers are run using Docker, an open platform for developing, shipping, and
+running applications. You can install Docker by following the installation instructions
+for your operating system in the [Docker docs](https://docs.docker.com/desktop/).
 
-You will also need an installation of the SQLite3 database.
-Many popular UNIX-like OSes ship with an acceptable version of SQLite3.
-Others can find installation instructions at the [SQLite3 website](https://www.sqlite.org).
+Once Docker has been installed, launch the Docker Application to begin running
+the Docker engine on your machine.
 
-Verify that it is correctly installed and in your load `PATH`:
+#### Installing VSCode
 
-```bash
-$ sqlite3 --version
-```
+Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is an open source code editor developed by Microsoft. VSCode's Dev Container
+extension allows you to open any folder inside (or mounted into) a container and take advantage of
+Visual Studio Code's full feature set. A [devcontainer.json](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers#_create-a-devcontainerjson-file)
+file in your project tells VS Code how to access (or create) a development container with a
+well-defined tool and runtime stack. It allows you to quickly spin up containers, access terminal
+commands, debug code, and utilize extensions.
 
-The program should report its version.
+You can install VSCode by downloading it from [the website](https://code.visualstudio.com/).
 
-#### Installing Rails
+You can install the Dev Container extension by downloading it from [the marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers).
 
-To install Rails, use the `gem install` command provided by RubyGems:
+#### Installing rails-new
 
-```bash
-$ gem install rails
-```
+`rails-new`  generates a new Rails application for you without having to install Ruby on
+your machine. It uses Docker to generate the Rails application, thus allowing Docker to
+take care of installing the correct Ruby and Rails versions for you.
 
-To verify that you have everything installed correctly, you should be able to
-run the following in a new terminal:
-
-```bash
-$ rails --version
-Rails 7.2.0
-```
-
-If it says something like "Rails 7.2.0", you are ready to continue.
+To install rails-new, follow the installation instructions [in the readme](https://github.com/rails/rails-new?tab=readme-ov-file#installation).
 
 ### Creating the Blog Application
 
 Rails comes with a number of scripts called generators that are designed to make
 your development life easier by creating everything that's necessary to start
 working on a particular task. One of these is the new application generator,
 which will provide you with the foundation of a fresh Rails application so that
-you don't have to write it yourself.
+you don't have to write it yourself. The `rails-new` tool uses this generator to
+create a new Rails application for you.
+
+NOTE: The examples below use `$` to represent your terminal prompt in a UNIX-like OS,
+though it may have been customized to appear differently.
 
-To use this generator, open a terminal, navigate to a directory where you have
+To use `rails-new` to generate your app, open a terminal, navigate to a directory where you have
 rights to create files, and run:
 
 ```bash
-$ rails new blog
+$ rails-new blog
 ```
 
-This will create a Rails application called Blog in a `blog` directory and
-install the gem dependencies that are already mentioned in `Gemfile` using
-`bundle install`.
+This will create a Rails application called Blog in a `blog` directory.
 
 TIP: You can see all of the command line options that the Rails application
-generator accepts by running `rails new --help`.
+generator accepts by running `rails-new --help`.
 
 After you create the blog application, switch to its folder:
 
@@ -194,6 +173,30 @@ of the files and folders that Rails creates by default:
 |.gitignore|This file tells git which files (or patterns) it should ignore. See [GitHub - Ignoring files](https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files) for more information about ignoring files.|
 |.rubocop.yml|This file contains the configuration for RuboCop.|
 |.ruby-version|This file contains the default Ruby version.|
+|.devcontainer/|This folder contains the Dev Container configuration|
+
+### Opening the Blog Application in a Dev Container
+
+Our new Rails application comes with a Dev Container already configured and ready to use.
+We will use VSCode to spin up and work with our Dev Container. Start by launching VSCode
+and opening your application.
+
+Once the application opens, VSCode should prompt you that a it has found a Dev Container
+configuration file, and you can reopen the folder in a Dev Container. Click the green "Reopen
+in Container" button to create the Dev Container.
+
+Once the Dev Container setup is complete, your development environment is ready to use,
+with Ruby, Rails, and all your dependencies installed.
+
+You can open the terminal within VScode to verify that Rails is installed:
+
+```bash
+$ rails --version
+Rails 7.2.0
+```
+
+For the remainder of this guide, you will be working within VSCode which serves
+as your entry point for your application that will run in the Dev Container.
 
 Hello, Rails!
 -------------

guides/source/installing_rails.md

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+**DO NOT READ THIS FILE ON GITHUB, GUIDES ARE PUBLISHED ON https://guides.rubyonrails.org.**
+
+Installing Rails
+================
+
+After reading this guide, you will know:
+
+* How to install Rails
+* How to create a Rails application
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This guide is for those who would like to install Rails on their local machine.
+See [Getting Started](getting_started.html) for the full guide to getting started
+with Rails, including working with Rails in a Dev Container, which is the quickest
+way to get started.
+
+The best way to read this guide is to follow it step by step. All steps are
+essential to run this example application and no additional code or steps are
+needed.
+
+NOTE: The examples below use `$` to represent your terminal prompt in a UNIX-like OS,
+though it may have been customized to appear differently. If you are using Windows,
+your prompt will look something like `C:\source_code>`.
+
+Installing dependencies
+-----------------------
+
+Before you install Rails, you should check to make sure that your system has the
+proper prerequisites installed. These include:
+
+* Ruby
+* SQLite3
+
+### Installing Ruby
+
+Open up a command line prompt. On macOS open Terminal.app; on Windows choose
+"Run" from your Start menu and type `cmd.exe`. Any commands prefaced with a
+dollar sign `$` should be run in the command line. Verify that you have a
+current version of Ruby installed:
+
+```bash
+$ ruby --version
+ruby 3.1.0
+```
+
+Rails requires Ruby version 3.1.0 or later. It is preferred to use the latest Ruby version.
+If the version number returned is less than that number (such as 2.3.7, or 1.8.7),
+you'll need to install a fresh copy of Ruby.
+
+To install Rails on Windows, you'll first need to install [Ruby Installer](https://rubyinstaller.org/).
+
+For more installation methods for most Operating Systems take a look at
+[ruby-lang.org](https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/installation/).
+
+### Installing SQLite3
+
+You will also need an installation of the SQLite3 database.
+Many popular UNIX-like OSes ship with an acceptable version of SQLite3.
+Others can find installation instructions at the [SQLite3 website](https://www.sqlite.org).
+
+Verify that it is correctly installed and in your load `PATH`:
+
+```bash
+$ sqlite3 --version
+```
+
+The program should report its version.
+
+### Installing Rails
+
+To install Rails, use the `gem install` command provided by RubyGems:
+
+```bash
+$ gem install rails
+```
+
+To verify that you have everything installed correctly, you should be able to
+run the following in a new terminal:
+
+```bash
+$ rails --version
+Rails 7.2.0
+```
+
+If it says something like "Rails 7.2.0", you are ready to continue.
+
+Creating an Application
+-----------------------
+
+To create a new Rails application, open a terminal, navigate to a directory where you have
+rights to create files, and run:
+
+```bash
+$ rails new blog
+```
+
+This will create a Rails application called Blog in a `blog` directory and
+install the gem dependencies that are already mentioned in `Gemfile` using
+`bundle install`.
+
+TIP: You can see all of the command line options that the Rails application
+generator accepts by running `rails new --help`.
+
+After you create the blog application, switch to its folder:
+
+```bash
+$ cd blog
+```
+
+Now you are ready to continue with the Getting Started guide, continuing from
+the [Hello, Rails!](getting-started.html#hello-rails-bang) section.