From: "Al Abut - alabut.com" <alabut@...>
Date: 2005-03-24T08:04:51+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby newbie: 3 week learning project

Hal Fulton wrote:
> I'll weigh in here on the other side...
>
> _Teach Yourself Ruby_ is a valid choice. It has a good, tight
> organization, good material, and a good topic progression.

Thanks Hal, I was hoping that the format of the book would mesh with
the idea blogging out each day.

> And by the way, if you are judging TYR on the basis of other "TY"
> books -- don't. The quality of these varies greatly, and this one
> is among the best.

To be perfectly honest, this was an internal concern of mine that I
hadn't voiced to anyone but not because I thought the series sucked,
simply because I wasn't familiar with them and this is the first Sams
Teach Yourself Whatever book for me.

> Of course, having said that, *every* Ruby programmer should own the
> Pickaxe, period.  :)

That has definitely come through loud and clear :) and Pickaxe is going
in my library for sure. The "which book to use" meme has even inspired
an entire post on the issue from me:
http://alabut.com/nonsense/2005/03/ruby-book-im-sure-pickaxe-is-great.html

Thanks for all the great feedback from the list! One thing that I
wanted to reiterate that I may have not made clear earlier is that I
hope this blogging series is useful for more than just newbies and
anyone looking to brush up the basics or provide guidance to the
greenhorns is more than welcome. In fact, more advanced programmers
should be able to afford the time commitment even more (you already
know the concepts, it'll be easier) and not all of the chapters are
simply technical, there's definitely fodder for conversations about how
to do things "The Ruby Way" and experienced voices on the matter would
be kickass.

Al Abut
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http://alabut.com
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