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List:       ruby-talk
Subject:    Re: A couple of questions from a Ruby neophyte
From:       Brian Candler <B.Candler () pobox ! com>
Date:       2007-03-10 14:37:29
Message-ID: 20070310143722.GA11675 () uk ! tiscali ! com
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On Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 12:23:04PM +0900, 7stud 7stud wrote:
> I've been looking at Ruby and Python this week, and I am drawn more to 
> Python.  I went through the "Ruby in 20 minutes tutorial" at the Ruby 
> website here:
> 
> http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
> 
> and the syntax is not that appealing to me.  I also started reading the 
> book "Dive into Python", which targets experienced programmers moving to 
> Python, and which is also available for free download at the author's 
> web site:
> 
> http://www.diveintopython.org/
> 
> It's given a 5 star rating in the python book reviews here(click on the 
> book names for the full reviews):
> 
> http://www.awaretek.com/book.html
> 
> How great is that?!  A free 5 star rated programming book?

I learned through "Programming Ruby", a.k.a. the venerable "Pickaxe" book,
which suited my needs as an experienced programmer well. The 1st edition is
still free to read on-line: http://www.rubycentral.com/book/

If you like it, and don't want to get a real paper book (or give up the
shelf space) then the 2nd edition is available as a pay-for PDF download.

> It has a 
> unique format: the author starts each section with a few lines of some 
> indecipherable code, and then spends the rest of the section introducing 
> the concepts and language features that make the code crystal clear by 
> the end.

I never found any of the examples in Programming Ruby cryptic; most of it
was clear from day one. Once I'd got my head around 'yield' I was hooked :-)

Regards,

Brian.

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