Customer Reviews

Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was good, if a little out-dated. It provides a solid base of information regarding Ruby, but as of September, 2010, the information it provides on Ruby 1.9 is limited and sometimes incorrect.

This is not to say that it is a bad book, however. Considering that Ruby 1.9 was only recently begun when this version of the book, version two, was published, one cannot set the blame on the author, Peter Cooper, for the incorrect information, especially as Mr. Cooper is one of the leading sources of knowledge regarding Ruby (via his blog at rubyinside.com).

Despite the occasional bits of incorrect or lacking information concerning Ruby 1.9, the book itself provides a wealth of information regarding Ruby in general. It focuses primarily on Ruby 1.8, and the overwhelming majority of the code which powers Ruby 1.8 is transferable to Ruby 1.9.

My biggest complaint concerning the book was the lack of examples it has. While Mr. Cooper provides a true wealth of information, the examples were often small and rarely built upon previous material until one reaches chapter 12, at which point one builds an entire application. Even once one reaches this chapter, the code is not always the easiest to work with, as the code typed out in the book may have a minor change in it which will be difficult to locate to update in your own code if you do not already have a solid grasp on the material presented earlier in the book.

Additionally, in chapter 13, Mr. Cooper gives a basic look at Ruby on Rails, the currently-leading Ruby Framework.

Unfortunately, from the very first line of code typed in regarding Ruby on Rails, the code is incorrect. Cooper's Beginning Ruby was written prior to the release of Rails 3.0, which has introduced a myriad of changes to syntax.

It will not hurt a person to simply skim over the chapter on Ruby frameworks to learn a general gist of information concerning them, but do not expect the code there offered to be of any use to you.

Simply said, if you are looking to learn Ruby, this is an excellent book to start with if you pick up on information by reading and hearing better than you do with examples and seeing. If you prefer to see more than hear, this would be a good second book to go with, once you have a basic level of experience with Ruby.

I fully intend to read through Cooper's Beginning Ruby again once I've a stronger grasp on the language, and feel it is a good choice to truly solidify one's understanding of the language.

However, do not be surprised when some of the Ruby 1.9 information is incorrect, and do not be surprised at the no-longer-functioning code dealing with Ruby on Rails.

My recommendation regarding Peter Cooper's Beginning Ruby, Second Version:
Go for it. It is a solid book for learning Ruby, but do not be wholly surprised when this particular version has become obsolete in the future. I would hope to see a third version, updated for Ruby 1.9, with general information regarding Rails 3.0, to become available in the early- or mid-parts of 2011, but until then, this is a solid book to start with.

This's my first book on ruby and it's very good and i recommend it to
anyone who want to learn ruby and make a solid foundation of it, the
most interesting thing about this book is that it cover alot of different
topics , from the language itself to the developement cycle and
documentation generation and testing to working with files and
databases web frameworks and web developement to GUI desktop to
applications deployement and packaging and drawing a big picture for
the beginner ruby programmers all with easy and meaningfull examples
to explain the theory. it's not a reference that covers every method and
class in ruby in solid manner and it's not the beginners book that leave
you nowhere, it's the best book for beginners that will take their hands
to the first step to be proficient ruby programmer . absolutely
recommended for beginners .

I have found this book o be very well written, organized and easy to follow, regardless of of the reader's programming experience and/or Ruby knowledge. I have been programming for over 30 years, in several other languages, but this is my first attempt at learning an OO language. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn Ruby.

I read in the last few months a lot of books in order to learn new programming languages. This is the only book that I actually enjoyed reading. It is very clear and easy to read, and it seems that the author really loves Ruby!
If you want to learn Ruby, get this book.

Programming for dummies in plain English! Just what I've been looking for.

I first tried Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides) by Aaron Hillegass. Couple of chapters down the road I quit. Then I picked Programming in Objective-C (4th Edition) (Developer's Library) by Stephen G. Kochan. The same story. Both books claim to be for beginners without any previous programming experience. Well, that's true for the first couple of chapters. Then it gets SOOOO technical instantaneously that the only thing you keep thinking about is "Where the hell did that come from?..." or "Are you guys nuts to expect me to comprehend this?". Maybe you eventually come to understand it by the end of the book, but it kills the fun so ruthlessly - life's to short to torture yourself like that.

This book explains complex concepts in a simple way, using everyday stuff to illustrate the author's point so vividly! That's very nice. The style of writing is hilarious. That's pretty cool too. Thanks a lot, Peter!

I wanted to learn Ruby so that I could create web applications for my website in a language that was powerful yet simple to learn. This book was easy to read so that you could apply what you learned on the projects' chapters. The one noticeable flaw was that the Rails chapter should be included in the first part of the book - but not a big deal.

I purchased this book at a Barnes and Noble in Tulsa. It wasn't on sale.
It's pretty confusing.
Looked like a good book to start learning how to program from.
Has some weird introduction involving insect parts reassignment.
I've made it to chapter four as a novice, Yaaaay!!!

A great seller who delivered on a product just as described. The book itself, is a great introduction to the powers of Ruby. I'm now scouring the web for a more in depth look at the language.

I realize I am alone in this, but this was one of the worst programming books I have ever read. When I bought this book I was looking for a book that covered the Ruby programming language. Instead, what I got was a book that mainly covered arbitrary libraries or little puzzles that the author found to be interesting. The Ruby language was covered to some extent, but very sparsely. The author would also frequently use Ruby techniques that had not yet been explained without warning the reader, a practice I found to be incredibly frustrating.

Essentially, this book is very example heavy, at the expense of covering the actual programming language.