From: Javier_CH Date: 2007-02-13T02:00:09+09:00 Subject: Re: Just a really general Question... On 12 Feb., 16:14, Derek Derek wrote: i really have no idea what > programming is or it's uses. Thank you anyway though. :) if you're a complete programming-newbie i would recommend to learn a the object-oriented (oo) basics by learning an oo-language. alltough ruby is an oo-language, there aren't as many great newbie-books as you'll find for (let's say) java. a great book i can really recommend if you're a complete programming newbie is "head first java": http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208/sr=8-1/qid=1171298574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2672874-3243066?ie=UTF8&s=books I know, it's java and not ruby, but you'll learn a lot about oo- programming you'll be able to use with other languages and i think if your roots are in design this book will help you a lot in understanding oo-programming. There are two other great books by the head-first-series handling "design patterns" and "oo analysis and design". I don't think it's important in WHICH language you learn to program, it's much more important to learn the principles of programming. Today there's a lot of buzz about Ruby (imho legitimate buzz) but it's very likely that there will be the same amount of buzz about another great new language in a few years...so, as I said: don't concentrate on WHAT language to learn but how you get to learn the principles of programming. Good luck and lots of fun building software! :-)