From: William Rutiser <wruyahoo05@...>
Date: 2010-04-06T05:32:15+09:00
Subject: Re: Novice school teacher seeking help in programming

Matthew K. Williams wrote:
> On Tue, 6 Apr 2010, Hilary Bailey wrote:
>
>> Richard Conroy wrote:
>>> On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 4:36 PM, Hilary Bailey
>>> <my77elephants@gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Perhaps this book is more appropriate for an absolute beginner?
>>>>>
>>>>> http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram
>>>>>
>>>>> Jesus.
>>>>
>>>> Jesus, the book is just as similar to Beginning Ruby From Novice to
>>>> Professional. Do i have to learn C and or C++ before even thinking of
>>>> using Ruby or attempting to write a software?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Are we talking about the same book? I am trying to recall any 
>>> mention of
>>> C or C++ in Learn to Program whatsoever, unless it was placing it in
>>> context.
>>>
>>> You might want to look out for Shoes, or the Hackety Hack Ruby
>>> extensions.
>>> They use Ruby as a baseline. but simplify it further specifically for
>>> helping
>>> beginners & kids to learn programming.
>>
>> On pgs 296 and 297. There is not clarity as how to use the million of
>> concepts. Someone recommended to abandon Ruby and go directly to Ruby on
>> Rails, as it offers more flexibility while learning Ruby and also Rails.
>
> I'm confused -- can you point to an url in the online Learn to Program 
> book?  (http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram) Or is pp 296-297 in the other 
> book?
>
> Also, what do you mean as there being no clarity as how to use the 
> million of concepts?  The Learn To Program book has, as I recall, a 
> lot of little exercises to help you with applying the information in 
> each chapter.
>
> Or is it more an issue of not knowing where/how to start and what to 
> use where/when?
>
> Matt
>
Chris Pine's book only has 230 pages. The first edition had 149 pages.

Learn to Program
Chris Pine
Pragmatic Bookshelf
ISBN 0-9766940-4-2
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ltp2/learn-to-program-2nd-edition

Bill