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

On Feb 1, 7:13=A0pm, Fabio Cevasco <[e-mail]> wrote:
> I read and reviewed many Addison-Wesley books on Ruby lately, and my
> favorites are:
> -- Refactoring, Ruby Edition --http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx=
?isbn=3D0321603508
> -- Design Patterns in Ruby --http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?i=
sbn=3D0321490452
>
> They do not provide a lot of reference materials like The Pickaxe or The
> Ruby Way, but they will teach you how to code in Ruby properly.
>
> Concerning free (and recent) books, check out:
> -- The Little Book of Ruby --http://www.sapphiresteel.com/The-Little-Book=
-Of-Ruby
> -- The Book of Ruby --http://www.sapphiresteel.com/Blog/The-Book-Of-Ruby-=
free-in-depth
>
> *Fabio Cevasco*
> **=BB email: [e-mail]
> =A0<[e-mail]>=BB web site:www.H3RALD.com<http://www.h3rald.com>
>
> On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 1:26 AM, serialhex <[e-mail]> wrote:
> > +1http://rubybestpractices.com/i'm really enjoying reading this book,
> > the
> > pdf is a permanent tab in chrome for me. =A0I'm learning a lot from thi=
s
> > book!
>
> > i have both the 2nd & 3rd editions of the pickaxe (rb 1.8 & 1.9 resp.
> > =A0technically i also have access to the first - online for free) =A0i =
love it
> > for the reference. =A0i cant seem to get over needing a *physical* book=
 to
> > turn pages on. =A0and the fact that i can browse the std lib just by fl=
ipping
> > pages. =A0linkage:http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9
>
> > <http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9>i rather like th=
e
> > ruby cookbook by o'reillyhttp://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596523695. =A0i=
t's
> > helped me learn a number of things that some people just *assume* you k=
now.
> > =A0though 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 th=
e
> > $50
> > IMO. =A0unfortunately 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 implementation=
s of
> > the algorithms). =A0this book isn't necessarily for everybody, but for =
those
> > interested in A.I. & such it's really cool. =A0AND it's free (print ver=
sion
> > ~$20). =A0(this especially rocks cause i found it on my B-day - which w=
as
> > 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 rub=
y
> > when i was first starting out. =A0i 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. =A0i'd really l=
ike
> > more intro-to-this-language books like this.
>
> > that's really it for me. =A0next?
>
> > 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 yo=
u
> > > 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 rea=
d
> > you
> > > > have 'fallen in love with' - they're the ones I will most likely ge=
t
> > > > 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/
>
>

This question asked many many times over. check the old threads