# The Ruby Way **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [8 December 2002 03:39 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424 "2002-12-08T03:39:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Carrera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c67d28/32.png) [@Daniel\_Carrera](https://rubytalk.org/u/Daniel_Carrera)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 03:39 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/1 "2002-12-08T03:39:13Z")
What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? Would that be a good book to buy? Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. Daniel Carrera Graduate Teaching Assisant. Math Dept. University of Maryland. (301) 405-5137 ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_Sinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gavin\_Sinclair](https://rubytalk.org/u/Gavin_Sinclair)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 03:48 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/2 "2002-12-08T03:48:23Z")
> What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > Would that be a good book to buy? > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > Daniel Carrera > Graduate Teaching Assisant. Math Dept. > University of Maryland. (301) 405-5137 It’s a great book. Check it on Amazon for reviews and extracts. Gavin > **···** > > From: “Daniel Carrera” [dcarrera@math.umd.edu](mailto:dcarrera@math.umd.edu) ---
**Author:** ![Harry\_Ohlsen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Harry\_Ohlsen2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Harry_Ohlsen2)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 03:48 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/3 "2002-12-08T03:48:23Z")
> What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > Would that be a good book to buy? I think it’s a great book! I believe the pickaxe book is the best place to start, but once you’ve been writing Ruby code for a while, TRW is the next book that’s really worth grabbing (Matz’s book is also helpful, as a good desk reference). > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. There is, but I can’t remember where it lives. H. > **···** > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002 14:39, Daniel Carrera wrote: ---
**Author:** ![David\_Alan\_Black1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/278dde/32.png) [@David\_Alan\_Black1](https://rubytalk.org/u/David_Alan_Black1)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 06:27 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/4 "2002-12-08T06:27:36Z")
Hi – > **···** > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > > Would that be a good book to buy? > > > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > [http://hypermetrics.com/rubyhacker/coralbook](http://hypermetrics.com/rubyhacker/coralbook) > > David > > – > David Alan Black > home: [dblack@candle.superlink.net](mailto:dblack@candle.superlink.net) > work: blackdav@shu.edu > Web: [http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav](http://pirate.shu.edu/~blackdav) ---
**Author:** ![Simon\_Cozens1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Simon\_Cozens1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Simon_Cozens1)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 14:12 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/5 "2002-12-08T14:12:22Z")
Daniel Carrera [dcarrera@math.umd.edu](mailto:dcarrera@math.umd.edu) writes: > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > Would that be a good book to buy? When I was learning C, I read K&R because it’s the definitive book on C. When I had finished reading it, I knew what C looked like, I knew its syntax and operators and function. But I still couldn’t sit down and write a C program. The Ruby Way was the first Ruby book I read, and I think it’s main advantage is that it doesn’t just tell you how to program in Ruby; it tells you how to think in Ruby. > **···** > > – > Dames lie about anything - just for practice. -Raymond Chandler ---
**Author:** ![Stephan\_Kamper3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Stephan\_Kamper3](https://rubytalk.org/u/Stephan_Kamper3)\ **Post date:** [9 December 2002 20:56 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/6 "2002-12-09T20:56:27Z")
Daniel Carrera wrote: > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? It greeat! Don’t have nothin’ more to say. > Would that be a good book to buy? Very short and in my opinion: Yes ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mark\_Wilson](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Wilson)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 04:00 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/7 "2002-12-08T04:00:16Z")
I bought it a couple of days ago. I’ve been working my way through it and like it very much. I started with the pickaxe book and really liked that (I still use it on a daily basis). Then I bought Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days, which is also a very good book. The Ruby Way is more advanced than Teach Yourself Ruby and very different from the pickaxe book (you can learn from both). Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the book Making Use of Ruby, which I cannot recommend. > **···** > > On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 10:48 PM, Harry Ohlsen wrote: > > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002 14:39, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > > > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > > > Would that be a good book to buy? > > > > I think it’s a great book! > > > > I believe the pickaxe book is the best place to start, but once you’ve > > been > > writing Ruby code for a while, TRW is the next book that’s really worth > > grabbing (Matz’s book is also helpful, as a good desk reference). > > > > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > > > There is, but I can’t remember where it lives. > > > > H. ---
**Author:** ![HAL\_9000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90ced4/32.png) [@HAL\_9000](https://rubytalk.org/u/HAL_9000)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 08:30 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/8 "2002-12-08T08:30:27Z")
Thanks for answering that one… these questions always arise when I am away from the computer. HF > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: [dblack@candle.superlink.net](mailto:dblack@candle.superlink.net) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2002 12:27 AM > Subject: Re: The Ruby Way > > > Hi – > > > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > > > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > > > Would that be a good book to buy? > > > > > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > > > [http://hypermetrics.com/rubyhacker/coralbook](http://hypermetrics.com/rubyhacker/coralbook) ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Campbell1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Michael\_Campbell1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Michael_Campbell1)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 18:28 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/9 "2002-12-08T18:28:39Z")
> When I was learning C, I read K&R because it’s the definitive book on C. > When I had finished reading it, I knew what C looked like, I knew its > syntax and operators and function. But I still couldn’t sit down and write > a C program. Wow, I can’t hardly believe that. Did you do any of the exercises (…which were, for the most part, complete C programs, albeit small)? I still use that book as the standard by which others are judged. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Carrera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c67d28/32.png) [@Daniel\_Carrera](https://rubytalk.org/u/Daniel_Carrera)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 04:15 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/10 "2002-12-08T04:15:00Z")
I’m just getting started on Ruby. Would you recommend I wait a while before reading “The Ruby Way”? I don’t like buying “newbie books” even when I’m a newbie. I find that I exhaust those books very quickly. Where as with an expert book, even if I read everything, I can keep comming back to it later on. Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days sounds like a “newbie book”. Would you agree with that? Thanks for the help. Daniel Carrera Graduate Teaching Assisant. Math Dept. University of Maryland. (301) 405-5137 > **···** > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, Mark Wilson wrote: > > > I bought it a couple of days ago. I’ve been working my way through it > > and like it very much. I started with the pickaxe book and really > > liked that (I still use it on a daily basis). Then I bought Teach > > Yourself Ruby in 21 Days, which is also a very good book. The Ruby Way > > is more advanced than Teach Yourself Ruby and very different from the > > pickaxe book (you can learn from both). Unfortunately, I was > > disappointed with the book Making Use of Ruby, which I cannot recommend. > > > > On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 10:48 PM, Harry Ohlsen wrote: > > > > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002 14:39, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > > > > > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > > > > Would that be a good book to buy? > > > > > > I think it’s a great book! > > > > > > I believe the pickaxe book is the best place to start, but once you’ve > > > been > > > writing Ruby code for a while, TRW is the next book that’s really worth > > > grabbing (Matz’s book is also helpful, as a good desk reference). > > > > > > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > > > > > There is, but I can’t remember where it lives. > > > > > > H. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mark\_Wilson](https://rubytalk.org/u/Mark_Wilson)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 04:48 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/11 "2002-12-08T04:48:57Z")
I’m also a newbie and generally agree that many newbie books start and end at too simplistic a level. I did, however, get a lot out of Teach Yourself Ruby (the rest of the title is unfortunate). However, I didn’t buy the book until after I read a sample chapter on line and the table of contents. You can see if this book suits your needs here (not an affiliate link): [http://www.sams.com/catalog/article.asp?product\_id=](http://www.sams.com/catalog/article.asp?product_id=){226452E6-35A8-4079- 81FF-444D4EBB24A1}&session\_id={E3B633ED-A328-4BCB-8DC9-3FE0F95B5326} Or on Amazon at (not an affiliate link): > **[Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days: Slagell, Mark: 9780672322525: Amazon.com:...](https://www.amazon.com/Sams-Teach-Yourself-Ruby-Days/dp/0672322528)** > > Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days \[Slagell, Mark\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-5951057-4813709#product-details Mark Slagell also took a translation of the Ruby User’s Guide from Japanese and, with further translation help and some rewriting, put together the guide found here: [http://www.ruby-lang.org/~slagell/ruby/index.html](http://www.ruby-lang.org/~slagell/ruby/index.html) > **···** > > On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 11:15 PM, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > I’m just getting started on Ruby. Would you recommend I wait a while > > before reading “The Ruby Way”? > > > > I don’t like buying “newbie books” even when I’m a newbie. I find > > that I > > exhaust those books very quickly. Where as with an expert book, even > > if I > > read everything, I can keep comming back to it later on. > > > > Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days sounds like a “newbie book”. Would you > > agree with that? > > > > Thanks for the help. > > > > Daniel Carrera > > Graduate Teaching Assisant. Math Dept. > > University of Maryland. (301) 405-5137 > > > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002, Mark Wilson wrote: > > > > > I bought it a couple of days ago. I’ve been working my way through it > > > and like it very much. I started with the pickaxe book and really > > > liked that (I still use it on a daily basis). Then I bought Teach > > > Yourself Ruby in 21 Days, which is also a very good book. The Ruby > > > Way > > > is more advanced than Teach Yourself Ruby and very different from the > > > pickaxe book (you can learn from both). Unfortunately, I was > > > disappointed with the book Making Use of Ruby, which I cannot > > > recommend. > > > > > > On Saturday, December 7, 2002, at 10:48 PM, Harry Ohlsen wrote: > > > > > > > On Sun, 8 Dec 2002 14:39, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > > > > > > > > What do people think of “The Ruby Way”? > > > > > Would that be a good book to buy? > > > > > > > > I think it’s a great book! > > > > > > > > I believe the pickaxe book is the best place to start, but once > > > > you’ve > > > > been > > > > writing Ruby code for a while, TRW is the next book that’s really > > > > worth > > > > grabbing (Matz’s book is also helpful, as a good desk reference). > > > > > > > > > Is there a book homepage? I can’t find it in Google. > > > > > > > > There is, but I can’t remember where it lives. > > > > > > > > H. ---
**Author:** ![Shashank\_Date3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@Shashank\_Date3](https://rubytalk.org/u/Shashank_Date3)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 05:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/12 "2002-12-08T05:40:53Z")
“Daniel Carrera” [dcarrera@math.umd.edu](mailto:dcarrera@math.umd.edu) > Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days sounds like a “newbie book”. Would you > agree with that? Disagree … don’t get put off by the “21 Days” title. It is a very good book ! My favourites: Pickaxe, TRW, and TYR 21 D ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_Sinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gavin\_Sinclair](https://rubytalk.org/u/Gavin_Sinclair)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 05:47 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/13 "2002-12-08T05:47:39Z")
> [Daniel Carrera:] > I’m just getting started on Ruby. Would you recommend I wait a while > before reading “The Ruby Way”? No. Get it now. The amount you’ve posted to the list, and the work you’re doing on a tutorial, suggests you’ll be doing Ruby for some time. Therefore, get TRW and start learning straight away. Gavin ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Campbell1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Michael\_Campbell1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Michael_Campbell1)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 13:47 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/14 "2002-12-08T13:47:50Z")
> I’m just getting started on Ruby. Would you recommend I wait a while > before reading “The Ruby Way”? I wouldn’t. It is “advanced” in that it covers some more advanced stuff, but it has enough pre-cursor stuff in there too to lead you too it. It’s only fault (IMO) is that it is a bit broad; it’s not really for neophyte programmers, but nor seasoned ones either (I mean, do we really need a paragraph on String#reverse?). ---
**Author:** ![HAL\_9000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90ced4/32.png) [@HAL\_9000](https://rubytalk.org/u/HAL_9000)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 22:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/15 "2002-12-08T22:54:35Z")
> > I’m just getting started on Ruby. Would you recommend I wait a while > > before reading “The Ruby Way”? > > I wouldn’t. It is “advanced” in that it covers some more advanced stuff, > but it > has enough pre-cursor stuff in there too to lead you too it. It’s only > fault > (IMO) is that it is a bit broad; it’s not really for neophyte programmers, > but > nor seasoned ones either (I mean, do we really need a paragraph on > String#reverse?). I’ll address that since you brought it up. The book certainly has its share of design flaws and outright errors (which are my responsibility and not any collaborators’). Your rhetorical question about #reverse is a point well taken, and one to which I gave many hours of thought. What I decided was: 1. Everything is obvious to somebody. 2. Nothing is obvious to everybody. 3. I’m an increasingly poor judge about how the Ruby neophyte thinks anyway. 4. Therefore, I’ll err on the side of completeness. I.e., better too much information than not enough. There is an infinity of things you won’t find in this book; and many of them cause people to say, “Why wasn’t THIS included?” But while I couldn’t cover all of the intermediate or advanced programming problems in the universe, I felt I could cover all the trivial ones. And so I did. Just a little justification after the fact. 🙂 Cheers, Hal > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: “Mike Campbell” [michael\_s\_campbell@yahoo.com](mailto:michael_s_campbell@yahoo.com) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2002 7:47 AM > Subject: Re: The Ruby Way ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Wisti1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@Brian\_Wisti1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Brian_Wisti1)\ **Post date:** [8 December 2002 23:08 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/16 "2002-12-08T23:08:25Z")
[snip] > What I decided was: > > 1. Everything is obvious to somebody. > 2. Nothing is obvious to everybody. > 3. I’m an increasingly poor judge about how the > Ruby neophyte thinks anyway. > 4. Therefore, I’ll err on the side of completeness. > > I.e., better too much information than not enough. > > There is an infinity of things you won’t find in > this book; and many of them cause people to say, > “Why wasn’t THIS included?” But while I couldn’t > cover all of the intermediate or advanced > programming problems in the universe, I felt I > could cover all the trivial ones. And so I did. > > Just a little justification after the fact. 🙂 No need to worry. Ruby Way is generally the book I pick up when I’m looking for cookbook-style solutions. I found it suitably organized for that purpose. Haven’t regretted purchasing it yet 🙂 -Brian W Brian Wisti [brian@coolnamehere.com](mailto:brian@coolnamehere.com) [http://coolnamehere.com/](http://coolnamehere.com/) > **···** > > At 07:54 AM 12/9/2002 +0900, you wrote: ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Campbell1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Michael\_Campbell1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Michael_Campbell1)\ **Post date:** [9 December 2002 01:14 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/17 "2002-12-09T01:14:58Z")
> Just a little justification after the fact. 🙂 Thanks Hal. FWIW, I do like the book and consider it money well spent. I wanted to give what I would consider an objective opinion to the OP though and not let any zealotry through. =) ---
**Author:** ![HAL\_9000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90ced4/32.png) [@HAL\_9000](https://rubytalk.org/u/HAL_9000)\ **Post date:** [9 December 2002 02:14 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/the-ruby-way/3424/18 "2002-12-09T02:14:35Z")
> > Just a little justification after the fact. 🙂 > > Thanks Hal. FWIW, I do like the book and consider it money well spent. I > wanted to give what I would consider an objective opinion to the OP though > and > not let any zealotry through. =) Absolutely. No one should hesitate to give negative feedback about the book… as long as it’s polite. 🙂 Hal > **···** > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: “Mike Campbell” [michael\_s\_campbell@yahoo.com](mailto:michael_s_campbell@yahoo.com) > To: “ruby-talk ML” [ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org](mailto:ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org) > Sent: Sunday, December 08, 2002 7:14 PM > Subject: Re: The Ruby Way