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Average Customer Review
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54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
This is the new authoritative Ruby book. Buy it, not the Pickaxe., February 26, 2008
Originally planned as a second edition to Ruby classic, Ruby In A Nutshell, The Ruby Programming Language is a new book by David Flanagan and Yukihiro Matsumoto (a.k.a. Matz - creator of Ruby) and published by O'Reilly. The book covers both Ruby 1.8 and 1.9 and with its esteemed authors and technical approach, is sure to become a new "Bible" for Ruby developers.
As of the start of 2008 this book is REALLY fresh and up to date. Its style is very direct and matter-of-fact; well suited for existing Ruby developers and proficient developers coming from other languages. The examples are clear and logical and the explanations concise; this is a well edited and authoritative book.
The structure of the book is a delight with ten well-defined chapters (with titles such as Reflection and Metaprogramming, Statements and Control Structures, and Expressions and Operators) that each contain a tree of sections. Consider Chapter 4, Expressions and Operators. A sample dive down to section 4.5.5.2 takes us through 4.5, Assignments; 4.5.5, Parallel Assignment; and finally to 4.5.5.2, One lvalue, multiple rvalues. This is a breath of fresh air in a Ruby reference work.
The only downside, in terms of the thousands who might be browsing Amazon looking for a single Ruby book to start off with, is that this book is so well focused on documenting the core elements of the Ruby language, it doesn't work either as a tutorial / beginner's introduction to Ruby, or as an exhaustive reference work (as, on both fronts, the Pickaxe attempts to be.) This lack of dilution may be an ultimate strength, however, since anyone above the station of "beginner" will be able to learn Ruby thoroughly from this book, use it as a general reference, and then be able to use the exhaustive documentation that comes with Ruby itself to cover the standard library and built-in classes.
In conclusion, whether you're an existing developer or a newcomer to Ruby, you need just three things to be up and running with Ruby in the book / documentation department. Forget the Pickaxe and its mediocrity, and buy this, the Ruby Way (by Hal Fulton), and learn how to use the documentation that comes with Ruby.
This book will act as the "Bible" for Ruby, the Ruby Way will make you an expert, and learning how to use the documentation that comes with Ruby will mean you're not using information that's out of date within a couple of years. The perfect combo! It'll last you for years.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Perfect For Experienced Ruby Developers, March 7, 2008
'The Ruby Programming Language' is one of 'those' O'Reilly books that become staples in the family of GREAT texts that have come before. At 400+ pages, the following content is discussed:
01. Intro
02. Structure of Ruby Programs
03. Datatypes & Objects
04. Expressions & Operators
05. Statements & Control Structures
06. Methods, Procs, Lambdas, Closures
07. Classes & Modules
08. Reflection & Metaprogramming
09. Ruby Platform
10. Ruby Environment
Logically laid out, wonderful writing, clear and concise examples with a length that is 'just right' (this is so hard to not find bloated books) this is perfect for those that know some Ruby and/or programming in general. If you are new to software development, this book probably is NOT for you as it's not a "learning" text. There are other Ruby books that cover said topic though so make sure to pick those up as well.
Awesome job O'Reilly for this relatively new and fast growing language that is used on the web and wherever you want!!
***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent Guide To Ruby, September 16, 2008
Really found this to be an excellent guide to the Ruby programming language. This is definitely not just the API rehashed in print.
The difference in the style of this book and some others, in my opinion, is the difference between a map and a travel guide. A map may show you what and where things are, and may even be useful for figuring out how to go between locations, a travel guide will often include maps plus the inside scoop on what is interesting.
This book is similar. The writing style is like having an expert sit down and explain to you the various facets of the language, how to use them, points that are notable, etc. And all of this content is within a reasonable 400 pages.
Highly recommended.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Exactly what I expected from O'Reilly, July 21, 2008
I wish every book about a programming language was written like this one:
First, it is fairly compact and doesn't waste space (and your time) explaining to you what is a byte or a register, like some 800 page "volumes about everything" do. It correctly assumes that the reader is a programmer and explains the language, not the programming.
Second, it covers Ruby in depth. Read this book and you'll easily understand the most craziest Ruby code examples that could be found inside of Rails and other popular libraries. Moreover, I've found a few tricks in the book that I don't believe I saw in the wild.
And finally, author's language is very clean, free of buzzwords and needless repetitions. As always with O'Reilly books, this one is also very neatly structured and makes an excellent reference book.
Buy it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Quite possibly the be all and end all of Ruby books, May 26, 2008
For a long time now Dave Thomas' Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition (aka. The Pickaxe) has been the standard in the Ruby community as the book to learn Ruby from. Unfortunately the Pickaxe is not the best programming book ever written. In fact, its bulk and slowness almost killed my inspiration to learn Ruby. I respect Dave Thomas a lot for what he does for the Ruby community but the Pickaxe and I just did not click.
Since I didn't find the Pickaxe to be excellent reading material, I had been eagerly anticipating David Flanagan's The Ruby Programming Language to come out and unseat The Pickaxe as the de facto book to recommend to newcomers to Ruby.
I am happy to say that The Ruby Programming Language did not disappoint. I picked up this book solely expecting to just review it since I already comfortable programming in Ruby. However, once I started reading the book I found myself frequently learning things about Ruby that I didn't know before. Not like little things either like, "oh that's interesting". I'm talking significant things like "holy crap that's sweet!".
This book covers both Ruby 1.8 and Ruby 1.9. Initially this concerned me because as impressive as it is, it must have been quite a headache for the authors and was not sure how they were going to pull it off. It turns out to be pretty much a non-issue. The authors make a note of what is 1.8 or 1.9 only and it does not disturb the flow of the book since it doesn't come up too frequently. I do hope though that after Ruby 1.9 stable is released they upgrade the book and tear out all the 1.8 specific material. Since I currently use 1.8 on a daily basis I don't mind having 1.8 material in there but after everything has shifted to 1.9 it would be rather irksome.
The style of the book is fairly straightforward. It starts with an introduction to how Ruby programs work and then goes into an explanation of Ruby datatypes and objects. The later chapters cover advanced topics like reflection and metaprogramming. The authors opted not to go the tutorial route, which I think, was a good approach since the book is not designed to be an "intro to programming" text.
In the preface of the book, the authors state:
> [The Ruby Programming Language] is loosely modeled after the classic C Programming Language (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Software) by Kernighan and Ritchie and aims to document the Ruby language comprehensively but without the formality of a language specification. It is written for experienced programmers who are new to Ruby, and for current Ruby programmers who want to take their understanding and mastery of the language to the next level.
O'Reilly is hoping that The Ruby Programming Language becomes the equivalent of K&R's The C Programming Language for Ruby and I hope it succeeds. I think that every language needs their own K&R book for people to turn to as the definitive authority. That's something that I feel like the Java programming language never had and it creates something of a hurdle when browsing for a Java book.
The third edition of the Pickaxe is in beta and will be coming out soon. I really hope it makes a strong showing when it hits the press because after the bangup job Flanagan and Matz did with The Ruby Programming Language, there is no reason to look at the Pickaxe till then.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Great!, April 17, 2008
This book (TRPL) represents a great alternative for those who are not entirely satisfied with the "Pickaxe", as it goes into much more detail in some areas of Ruby. After reading both books, my general impression is that the Pickaxe can be seen as a lighter reference and TRPL as a more in-depth description. In that sense they complement each other. Make no mistake, though: this book is not a comprehensive reference for the standard library (just as "The C programming language" is not a complete reference for the C standard library).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
In my top 10 of all time..., October 26, 2008
This book is quite simply one of the finest software development books ever written. The style, the length, the scope, and the structure are all absolutely perfect. The balance creates a reading experience that seemingly opens a channel to your brain and feeds the information in.
Flanagan is a master author of technical books, especially languages. His JavaScript book is equally well done. Matsumoto's unique technical mastery here leaves no stone unturned. And even the artwork by "why the lucky stiff" added a fun element that just rounded out the book as the best in its class.
If I could forget the whole thing, just so I could read it again, I would. It is that good.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Worthy of comparison to K&R, June 17, 2008
This is well written, well organized, and covers the whole core language. It isn't a cookbook, and it isn't an API reference, but for what it is, it's excellent.
The organization makes sense, the index is usable, and the writing is precise enough to leave no ambiguity.
My only complaint would be too much space spent on differences between 1.8.6 and 1.9, and too much attention to text encodings.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
great book, April 9, 2008
i write in ruby for about a year or two, mostly as a hoby. after i wrote a lot of simple and complex programs, there were still some basic (or not so basic) things that about ruby that were not so clear to me. this book made it all clear. all i can say about this book is that it is a great book and i recommend it to anyone programming in ruby.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The best Ruby book I've seen, April 5, 2008
"The Ruby Programming Language" is everything you'd hope for from an O'Reilly book that is co-written by the language creator and the author of "Java in a Nutshell." This is a well-written, concise, and thorough guide the Ruby language.
Unlike the Pickaxe, which tries to be everything from an OOP introduction to a complete library reference, this book focuses on concisely documenting the Ruby language. If you're looking to learn how to program, look elsewhere - the Pickaxe is a much better choice. On the other hand, if you're already familiar with OOP concepts, this book (along with [...]) is all you really need to understand the language.
Of note, the book is also very current, covering both Ruby 1.8 and 1.9. As such things go, this is about as future-proof as it gets - it will remain current for years.
I can't really stress enough how well-written this book is. The authors don't overwhelm you with jargon, nor do they bury important details between fluff and analogies - I find it to be the perfect balance of density and legibility. Seldom do I find technical references such a joy to read.
In short, if you work with Ruby (or plan to in the future), you really should buy this book. You won't regret it.
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