From: Richard Conroy Date: 2007-01-30T20:02:51+09:00 Subject: Re: learning tools for a novice On 1/29/07, cmdjackryan@googlemail.com wrote: > Rae wrote: > > Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such > > elementary learning tool? There is a 'Ruby on Rails for Dummies' book. I don't know how it stacks up against the competition, but if you are a fan of the 'Dummies' series you should possibly look it up. I find the Ruby Cookbook handy to mine for examples of when I need to get something done but don't personally know how - most of the tasks can be mapped readily to something that you need to do directly - its a great book. I don't know if the Rails Cookbook is as good, haven't read it, but the Ruby Cookbook can be used with little Ruby knowledge, whereas I presume that some familiarity with Rails is desirable to get most use out of the Rails cookbook. > > I'm more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told > > I need to learn Ruby first. > > http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/ > Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a nice > progression. Great writing style. I am teaching my Dad & girlfriend how to program with it. Though it is a generic programming book, with Ruby as the instruction language. Not exactly a Ruby primer, but it is dead cheap, and it does eventually introduce you to Ruby concepts like blocks etc. I would imagine that this book is probably the best at this. The elegance of using many of these Ruby structures probably hides just how sophisticated they are. > http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ > With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said ;) > Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn't for everyone. It is odd, I will give it that. The style wasn't for me, but it is free, and pretty thorough. The Little Book of Ruby goes more basic (assumes nothing on the part of the reader) and is another decent choice. > http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/ > The "PickAxe" as free online book, although it is only the first edition The second edition is worth picking up anyway > As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is > enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste, > preferred OS, required features, etc.) The Ruby install comes with 2 editors: FreeRIDE, which has a pretty comprehensive feature set, but I find it buggy and it crashes often for me. It also comes with SCITE which is a good editor. On windows I really like the interface of Notepad++ (damn fine generic windows editor too) but it doesn't execute Ruby scripts within it (or I haven't figured out how). For Rails stuff I like RoRed, its got a nice balance of features. I tried the various Ruby extensions in eclipse, and found them quite buggy. RadRails gets a lot of attention, but apparently it is best used in its standalone UI form, and not in the eclipse plugin form. Its also dependent on the Ruby module for eclipse which I have had issues with (it loses track of block 'end' statements). > - Phill > >