title: Can someone explain collection_select to me in clear, simple terms?
body: <p>I am going through the Rails API docs for <code>collection_select</code> and they are god-awful. </p>
  
  <p>The heading is this:</p>
  
  <p><code>collection_select(object, method, collection, value_method, text_method, options = {}, html_options = {})</code></p>
  
  <p>And this is the only sample code they give:</p>
  
  <p><code>collection_select(:post, :author_id, Author.all, :id, :name_with_initial, :prompt =&gt; true)</code></p>
  
  <p>Can someone explain, using a simple association (say a <code>User</code> has_many <code>Plans</code>, and a <code>Plan</code> belongs to a <code>User</code>), what I want to use in the syntax and why?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Edit 1:</strong> Also, it would be awesome if you explained how it works inside a <code>form_helper</code> or a regular form. Imagine you are explaining this to a web developer that understands web development, but is 'relatively new' to Rails. How would you explain it?</p>