Hi,
I have just ordered the Pickaxe 2nd ed. from Amazon. But now I am
thinking that in a near future Ruby 2 will be released and this
wondeful book is on Ruby 1.8. Well, what will happen then? Will it be
"démodé"?
First off, I don't know if anyone really knows when Ruby 2.0 will actually be
released. The current 1.9 experimental branch is the testbed for things 2.0.
If history is any guide I doubt you'll see 2.0 before Christmas of 2006 (Matz
likes to give us all presents), so at a minimum you'll get a year of use from
the current Pickaxe. However, if I had to guess I'd say that for Christmas 2006
we'll see 1.8.6 or 1.8.7 with 2.0 not arriving til Christmas of 2007 (if it
comes earlier I'll be pleasantly surprised ;-)
I suspect you'll be glad you got the Pickaxe now because you can start using
it as a reference for Ruby 1.8 which will remain relevant for at least a couple
of years. Even if 2.0 arrives early, the current Pickaxe book will stil be
something like 95%+ compatible.... differences will likely be posted on the
web somewhere (as was the case in the 1.6 -> 1.8 transition).
Phil
