Programming Ruby

What Hacker News says

1. skywhopperJan 2019
   Great writeup! I agree that Ruby is a remarkable language. One that changed my perspective about what a language could be while at the same time combining some of my absolute favorite ideas from Perl, Smalltalk, and Scheme into a syntax far cleaner and more satisfying than almost any other language I've worked with.

   Dave Thomas's Programming Ruby was a fixture on my office desk for a decade. One of the best programming books I've ever read, with a fantastic reference section (built from Ruby's own excellent baked-in docs), my copy is well worn, and I still find reasons to dig it off the shelf from time to time.

   I can't give enough Kudos to Matz, Dave, and the rest of the Ruby community for bringing this language into my life. The community they've built is truly amazing, and the language has endured even as it's grown with far fewer bumps and jolts as compared to other similar languages over the same time period.

   In summary, quite simply amazing! Happy Birthday, Ruby!

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2. sleight42Aug 2011
   I'm sorry to be critical but this article is a dangerously incomplete treatment.

   For instance, methods only exist on classes. And there's no mention of the singleton class whatsoever.

   For a more accurate lesson, watch Dave Thomas, author of the "Pickaxe" Programming Ruby book, present on the Ruby Object Model: http://scotland-on-rails.s3.amazonaws.com/2A04_DaveThomas-SO...

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3. shortlivedJan 2011
   I started programming when I entered college as a comp sci major. I highly recommend the first edition of the "pickaxe" book AKA Programming Ruby by Hunt and Thomas. It's a book that gives a good intro to programming without being an intro to programming book.
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4. apotheonSep 2009
   The "best way" depends on your current skills, really. Ordered by increasing levels of programming skill, I'd say you should start with one of the following:

   1. Learn to Program by Chris Pine

   2. Everyday Scripting with Ruby by Brian Marick

   3. Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt

   An excellent book to build your skills and internalize the common Ruby idioms is The Ruby Way by Hal Fulton.

   As others have mentioned, Agile Web Development with Rails is The Book to use for learning Rails.

   Of the above, the only book I don't have in one form or another is Chris Pine's (because it is, frankly, well below my skill level). There's an online tutorial by the same name, by the same guy, that can perhaps serve as a substitute -- but the book is much more complete, so if that's suitable to your skill level, I recommend getting the book.

   Best o' luck! Ruby is a lot of fun.

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5. ice_manOct 2008
   I'm trying to build the ultimate collection of hacker bibles. These include books on programming languages, algorithms, mathematics, theory, engineering principles and methodologies, design, paradigms, operating systems, frameworks, industry commentary, business/startup-related, etc.

   Below are my favorites (in no particular order), what other "greats" am I missing?

   The Art of Computer Programming (three volumes + fascicles) - Knuth (aka TAOCP)

   Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - Abelson and Sussman (aka SICP, aka The Wizard Book)

   Introduction to Algorithms - Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, Stein (aka CLRS)

   Design Patterns - Gamma, Helm, Johnson, Vlissides

   The C Programming Language - Kernighan, Ritchie

   The C++ Programming Language - Stroustrup

   The Scheme Programming Language - Dybvig

   Practical Common LISP - Seibel

   Programming Perl - Wall, Christiansen and Orwant

   ANSI Common Lisp - Graham

   Refactoring - Fowler

   UML Distilled - Fowler

   Introduction to the Theory of Computation - Sisper

   Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms - MacKay

   Modern Operating Systems - Tanenbaum

   On Lisp - Graham

   Hackers & Painters - Graham

   Paradigms of Artificial Intelligence - Norvig

   Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning - Bishop

   The Java Language Specification - Gosling, Joy, Steele

   Learning Python - Lutz & Ascher

   Programming Erlang - Armstrong

   Programming Ruby - Thomas, Fowler, Hunt

   Calculus - Spivak

   How to Solve It - Polya

   The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 FreeBSD Operating System - McKusick, Bostic, Karels, Quarterman

   The Design of the Unix Operating System - Bach

   The Unix Programming Environment - Kernighan, Pike

   The Art of Unix Programming - Raymond

   Godel, Escher, Bach - Hofstadter

   Metamagical Themas - Hofstadter

   Joel on Software - Spolsky

   Code Complete - McConneli

   The Mythical Man-Month - Brooks

   No Silver Bullet - Brooks

   The Long Tail - Anderson

   The Art of the Start - Kawasaki

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6. nkohariFeb 2008
   The best way to learn any toolkit is to build something using it. That's particularly true in the case of RoR, since it's very geared towards fast prototyping.

   If you don't know Ruby, get the pickaxe book. I'd also recommend Agile Web Development with Rails:

   http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Ruby-Pragmatic-Programmers... http://www.amazon.com/Agile-Web-Development-Rails-2nd/dp/097...

   Also check out PeepCode; it gets rave reviews:

   http://peepcode.com/

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