The Bottom Line
Beginning Ruby is an excellent choice for any beginning Ruby programmer. In the face of established competition, Beginning Ruby holds its own and remains a good choice. All the basics of the language are covered and, in addition, an assortment of advanced topics and libraries are also discussed. There is also a short introduction to [link url=/od/gems/g/ror.htm]Ruby on Rails[/list], which works well as a teaser for unleashing the power of Ruby onto the web. Beginning Ruby is highly recommended.
Pros
- Comprehensive coverage of the Ruby programming language.
- Advanced topics are covered well.
- Miscellaneous libraries in the standard library and gems are discussed enough to build most programs
- Hilarious introduction by why the lucky stiff.
Cons
- It may soon need an update with Ruby 2.0.
Description
- A comprehensive volume (more than 600 pages) of pure Ruby information.
- Useful manual. Many topics may not seem immediately useful, but they will keep you coming back to the book.
- The book is very well-written. It's clear that Cooper knows the topic and he explains things in in an understandable manner.
- Well organized. The beginning sections aren't bogged down in details.
- Well organized. The middle section gives you all the info you'll need
- Well organized. The third section expands on all of the information with libraries and gems.
Guide Review - Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional--Peter Cooper
Beginning Ruby is a comprehensive guide to the Ruby programming language. All basic and advanced features of the Ruby programming language are covered, as well as numerous libraries and gems. Beginning Ruby is geared towards beginning and intermediate programmers, and would be of interest to all Ruby programmers.
Beginning Ruby is split into three primary sections:
- Foundations and Scaffolding gives you something to sink your teeth into right away, without having to learn all of Ruby's features. This section is light on object-oriented talk and focuses primarily on accomplishing small tasks such as arithmetic, control structures and some of the basic types you'll encounter.
- The Core of Ruby covers the Ruby language itself, including object-oriented programming. This section fills in all the gaps left by the previous section and is the meat of the book. Coverage of the Ruby programming language itself is interspersed with chapters about common tasks such as interacting with databases and organizing large projects.
- Ruby Online is just icing on the cake. With the previous two sections alone, Beginning Ruby would have been a complete book. However, Ruby Online covers a number of topics like Ruby on Rails (briefly though, as Rails requires its own book to cover thoroughly), an assortment of networking protocols (HTTP, FTP, POP3, etc) and a healthy collection of useful gems.
Beginning Ruby also features an absolutely hilarious foreword in comic form by why the lucky stiff.
