From: Chad Perrin <code@...>
Date: 2013-05-21T01:18:01+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby Programming Practice

On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 04:44:49AM +0900, Brandon Weaver wrote:
> Your scope of thinking is too narrow. You want general problems that can be
> interpreted for any language.
> 
> Project Euler and Rosalind are great for it, and coding Katas are some to
> go on as well. Sharpen your Google Fu, it will serve you well in the
> future.

I think the best approach to very early practice is to use the language
for purposes that are useful to the person wanting to practice.
Exercises, koans, and puzzles have their place, but doing administrative
scripting on Unix-like systems, simple library development to eliminate
duplicative coding for things that the programmer ends up doing over and
over again while writing other programs, and simple Web development with
eruby and very lightweight frameworks (e.g. Sinatra), are all great ways
to practice the craft at a beginner level.

Of course, some of that depends on using a Unix-like environment and
having some interest in the way things work beyond point-and-click
interfaces, so if you lack those things you may be stuck with exercises,
koans, and puzzles for a while.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]