From: serialhex Date: 2011-02-01T09:26:54+09:00 Subject: Re: 2011: Which Ruby books have you read? And which would you recommend? --0016e64985f4aec500049b2d9505 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 +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 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 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 wrote: > > From: Anurag Priyam > Subject: Re: 2011: Which Ruby books have you read? And which would you > recommend? > To: "ruby-talk ML" > 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/ > > > > > > --0016e64985f4aec500049b2d9505--