Re: 2011: Which Ruby books have you read? And which would you recommend?

+1 http://rubybestpractices.com/ i'm really enjoying reading this book, the
pdf is a permanent tab in chrome for me.  I'm learning a lot from this book!

i have both the 2nd & 3rd editions of the pickaxe (rb 1.8 & 1.9 resp.
 technically i also have access to the first - online for free)  i love it
for the reference.  i cant seem to get over needing a *physical* book to
turn pages on.  and the fact that i can browse the std lib just by flipping
pages.  linkage: http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9

<http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9>i rather like the
ruby cookbook by o'reilly http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596523695.  it's
helped me learn a number of things that some people just *assume* you know.
 though i'm sure one can learn alot thats in this book by googling or
looking up source, having this much info at your fingertips is worth the $50
IMO.  unfortunately it dosnt cover ruby 1.9 & if your an experienced
developer it probably wont be much help, but for someone just starting i do
recommend it.

recently i found a book called clever algorithms
http://www.cleveralgorithms.com/ and while it's more aimed toward people
dealing with optimization problems & A.I. all of the example code is written
in ruby (not in a very ruby-ish way, but it's minimalist implementations of
the algorithms).  this book isn't necessarily for everybody, but for those
interested in A.I. & such it's really cool.  AND it's free (print version
~$20).  (this especially rocks cause i found it on my B-day - which was
saturday, and A.I. is my main field of interest, so a ruby book dealing with
A.I. thats free on my B-day... who could pass that up??)

lastly, the book that **REALLY** got me interested in ruby is why's
(poignant) guide to ruby ( http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/ is the
first archive i found, they're all over) and really helped me learn ruby
when i was first starting out.  i highly recommend it to anybody who hasn't
read it just because it's a very interesting artistic work (if nothing else)
and an interesting way to learn a programming language.  i'd really like
more intro-to-this-language books like this.

that's really it for me.  next?

hex



On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 6:46 PM, James Nathan <[e-mail]>wrote:

> I have Beginning Ruby and Beginning Rails. but no training as a programmers
> the real world do not want to help us with the questions about Ruby
> James
>
> --- On Mon, 1/31/11, Anurag Priyam <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> From: Anurag Priyam <[e-mail]>
> Subject: Re: 2011: Which Ruby books have you read? And which would you
> recommend?
> To: "ruby-talk ML" <[e-mail]>
> Date: Monday, January 31, 2011, 1:24 PM
>
> > I know there are a lot of threads about books, but some of them are as
> > old as 2006 - and I think it would be nice to get a more up to date list
> > of hot Ruby books, especially for anyone interested in learning the
> > latest version of Ruby, 1.9 (it's still ok to recommend older books if
> > you feel they are still relevant).
>
> Makes sense :).
>
> > I for one will be very eager to see which of the books you have read you
> > have 'fallen in love with' - they're the ones I will most likely get
> > first :)
>
> I have read, and absolutely love "The Ruby Programming Language" by
> Flannagan and Matz, and "Ruby Best Practices" by Gregory Brown. While
> the former serves as a fantastic reference, the later deals with Ruby
> programming practices in real projects and picking up a lot or Ruby
> idioms.
>
> Another interesting book that I had a chance to lay my hands on was
> "Practical Ruby Projects" by Topher Cyll. I found it more fun than
> practical; even the author sub-titles it "ideas for the eclectic
> programmer". It deals with things like: generating SVG animations,
> implementing Lisp in Ruby (loved this chapter), creating music with
> MIDI, Mac OS X GUI, Genetic Algorithms. Would suggest reading it in
> leisure time, or at an intermediate level.
>
> Hal Fulton's "The Ruby Way" is another book that I have read. It was
> the first Ruby book that I bought as The Pickaxe was way expensive in
> India back then. I was able to learn a good deal from it as a
> beginner. I would not recommend it though (not even to a beginner) as
> you can learn the same thing (without paying for the book) from the
> Ruby documentation, or Google. For the same reasons, I think it has
> lost much of its significance now.
>
> I have done some light reading on "Enterprise Integration with Ruby",
> and "Practical Ruby for System Administration". They contain some
> decent examples, but have a very beginner-ish and closed feeling to
> it. I don't think that they don't teach you anything concrete, rather
> gives you the answer to some closed form problems that you could have
> come up with (think, google, think, implement) with any way.
>
> Some books that have got good reviews, and I am looking forward to
> read (waiting for cheaper Indian reprint to come out :)) are "Design
> Patterns in Ruby", and "Refactoring - Ruby Edition". I think these
> books are relevant as they teach you something concrete - patterns,
> styles, and practices that you can apply, and reapply to different
> problems later. Would refrain from commenting more as I have not
> actually read them.
>
> tl;dr - Learn Ruby by reading "The Ruby Programming Language" while
> get better at it by writing, and reading a lot of code (FOSS, fun
> projects, rewriting class room assignments in Ruby). And yeah, "Ruby
> Best Practices is excellent, and free (I love advertising it :)).
>
> --
> Anurag Priyam
> http://about.me/yeban/
>
>
>
>
>
>