Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days [Paperback]

Mark Slagell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672322528 | ISBN-13: 978-0672322525 | Publication Date: April 1, 2002 | Edition: 1

Ruby is a high-level, fully object-oriented programming (OOP) language. It is very powerful and relatively easy to learn, read, and maintain.

Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days provides the best introduction to this language and addresses one of the key constraints it faces: "The paucity of quality English-language documentation is one of the few things holding Ruby back from widespread adoption," according to Dr. Curtis Clifton of Iowa State University¿s Department of Graduate Computer Science.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Ruby is a high-level, fully object-oriented programming (OOP) language. It is very powerful and relatively easy to learn, read, and maintain. Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days provides the best introduction to this language and addresses one of the key constraints it faces: "The paucity of quality English-language documentation is one of the few things holding Ruby back from widespread adoption," according to Dr. Curtis Clifton of Iowa State University's Department of Graduate Computer Science.

About the Author

Mark Slagell, MS, CS has taught programming languages at the university level where he designed and wrote his own course materials. He edits and maintains one of the first English language Ruby tutorials on the Web and has used Ruby to meet the programming requirements of numerous projects in a mixed Unix/Windows environment.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672322528
• ISBN-13: 978-0672322525
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,621,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful book marred by bad editing and egregious typos, April 30, 2003

By 

David C. Oshel "grikdog" (Cedar Rapids, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days (Paperback)

This book is marred by sloppy editing -- the devil is in the details. A casual reading turned up no less than five places where the meaning of illustrative materials or figures thwarted or contradicted the author's intent (and, in some cases, machine logic!) There is one diagram that was slapped onto the pasteboard and scanned to plate in an obvious hurry -- wiping out the top 8 pts of a 10 on 12 pts line of text. Aside from these pitfalls, the book has a chatty, conversational style guaranteed to drive advanced programmers from other disciplines (C, C++, Perl) up the wall. Since only advanced programmers can recognize the many errors, and only newbies will benefit from the chatty style, I can't really give this more than three stars, even though the author is obviously more proficient than SAMS' slapdash editing would indicate.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Introduction for the New Programmer, December 3, 2002

By 

Roger Sperberg (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days (Paperback)

I guess a lot of people come to Ruby with a knowledge of Perl or Java or C++ or some other language, and the other Ruby titles may be better suited for them. My own programming consisted of a smattering of Javascript and Actionscript. Consequently I appreciate this book's careful descriptions and clear and plentiful examples. The book moves fast, has a light tone, and lets the pleasure of Ruby come through. I recommend it, without reservation, as the entryway into Ruby.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best ruby intro book for most (but not all) developers, July 6, 2005

By 

street - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days (Paperback)

As of mid '05, this book is a little dated and is a couple of versions behind the current (1.8.2) release of ruby. Regardless, it still covers all of the necessary basics and in a very reader friendly order. The book is said to be written assuming no prior programming experience - however such a book as this is not really an introduction to programming. It does serve as a great introduction for just about anyone with some experience with just about any recent language - such as java, vb, vb.net or c#, and especially perl or python. The writing is clear and applies well towards learning. At times it may go a little too slow for the developer with experience behind them; however they should be able to read the entire book with its exercises in much less than a week with no problems; and be fairly productive in ruby at the end.

Like most beginners books, you'll want to follow up with a more thorough book like the Dave Thomas' pickaxe or The Ruby Way - but this is more than enough to get someone started. Just keep in mind that you are only going to learn the basics - if you have several years of practice behind you, especially if you understand the difference between a dynamic language like ruby and static ones like java and c# - then you will be better off skipping this one and going with the pickaxe book (search for Dave Thomas). Otherwise this is a great intro.