From: Jason Bailey Date: 2008-01-06T11:41:02+09:00 Subject: Re: Newbie Books Tim Hunter wrote: > McKenzie Cutshall wrote: >> Greetings all, >> >> >> >> This is my first ML ever so forgive me if I do something I shouldn't. I >> have tried getting a list of past articles using # index as the help >> file >> specifies but I get nothing in return. I was hoping to find >> recommendations >> on beginner books for someone who has really never written a single >> line of >> code. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. >> > > Welcome to Ruby, McKenzie! Here's a great starting point for you: > http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/. If you like the web site then you can > buy the book. If you have questions, ask them here. There are many > people on this list who've worked their way through this course. Good > luck! > McKenzie, it sounds like I am about four weeks ahead of you. I hadn't done any coding for about twelve years, since college (FORTRAN, yo), but then I decided to learn Ruby for some projects at work. I tried the Pickaxe book, but it seemed like it was a couple levels too difficult. But I picked up _Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional_, by Peter Cooper and it was just right for me. I worked through the book and now I'm writing my own stuff--very tentatively, of course. I just bought a new one this week, _Practical Ruby Projects: Ideas for the Eclectic Programmer_ by Topher Cyll. I haven't gone into it yet, but looks like a good follow-on book.