learning tools for a novice

[Rae]

Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such
elementary learning tool?
Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One
that would include the software and other tools you need to make a
program? I see a lot of code examples on the various tutorial sites
but nothing really on what programs you need to make a Ruby program.
What software I'd need to buy or hopefully download free. I have
FreeRide and some java programs and Netbeans (which apparantly doesn't
work with .rb files)

I'm more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told
I need to learn Ruby first.

thanks,

Rae

 

[Rodrigo Bermejo]

Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such
elementary learning tool?
Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One
that would include the software and other tools you need to make a
program? I see a lot of code examples on the various tutorial sites
but nothing really on what programs you need to make a Ruby program.
What software I'd need to buy or hopefully download free. I have
FreeRide and some java programs and Netbeans (which apparantly doesn't
work with .rb files)

I'm more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told
I need to learn Ruby first.

thanks,

Rae

Learning ruby in 21 Days - SAM's
Is a good starting point

 

[cmdjackryan]

Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such
elementary learning tool?
Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One
that would include the software and other tools you need to make a
program? I see a lot of code examples on the various tutorial sites
but nothing really on what programs you need to make a Ruby program.
What software I'd need to buy or hopefully download free. I have
FreeRide and some java programs and Netbeans (which apparantly doesn't
work with .rb files)

I'm more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told
I need to learn Ruby first.

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a nice
progression.

http://poignantguide.net/ruby/
With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said
Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn't for everyone.

http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/
The "PickAxe" as free online book, although it is only the first edition

As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is
enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste,
preferred OS, required features, etc.)

- Phill

 

[Rae]

Thanks.
As for software recommendations, my taste is "simple" - the simpler
the better - Operating system: Windows XP, builing databases and
manipulating the data and stored values.... And later, once I am
familiar with the language, to build a website. What program(s) would
I need for these needs?

Rae

 

[cmdjackryan]

Thanks.
As for software recommendations, my taste is "simple" - the simpler
the better - Operating system: Windows XP, builing databases and
manipulating the data and stored values.... And later, once I am
familiar with the language, to build a website. What program(s) would
I need for these needs?

Well, SciTE is quite a good choice in such a case (it is part of the
Ruby one click installer for Windows, for example) and cna run
non-interactive Ruby scripts from within SciTE. It is free, and supports
syntax highlighting, as well as automatic indentation of code.
Next comes Mondrian IDE (haven't tried it), which is written in pure
Ruby, and after that there's Eclipse with the Ruby Development Tools. I
can't really judge the IDEs though, as I don't have a need yet.

And you already have all you need, if you have Ruby installed: Notepad
as text editor, irb to test short snippets of code, and, of course, the
Ruby interpreter.

Fortunately, you don't need specialised programs for your needs, as Ruby
is a scripting language, so there's no need for specialized software.

It's up to you to find which toolset fits your own needs best, as there
is no tried and true suite of tools for every developer.

-Phill

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a
nice progression.

http://poignantguide.net/ruby/
With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said
Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn't for everyone.

http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/
The "PickAxe" as free online book, although it is only the first edition

As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is
enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste,
preferred OS, required features, etc.)

- Phill

I will add the very recently released (last week) "Everyday Scripting
with Ruby". http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/bmsft/

P.S.: It's *chunky* bacon! **CHUNKY**

 

[Richard Conroy]

There is a 'Ruby on Rails for Dummies' book. I don't know how it
stacks up against
the competition, but if you are a fan of the 'Dummies' series you
should possibly
look it up.

I find the Ruby Cookbook handy to mine for examples of when I need to
get something
done but don't personally know how - most of the tasks can be mapped readily to
something that you need to do directly - its a great book. I don't
know if the Rails
Cookbook is as good, haven't read it, but the Ruby Cookbook can be used with
little Ruby knowledge, whereas I presume that some familiarity with Rails is
desirable to get most use out of the Rails cookbook.

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a nice
progression.

Great writing style. I am teaching my Dad & girlfriend how to program with it.
Though it is a generic programming book, with Ruby as the instruction language.
Not exactly a Ruby primer, but it is dead cheap, and it does eventually
introduce you to Ruby concepts like blocks etc. I would imagine that this
book is probably the best at this. The elegance of using many of these Ruby
structures probably hides just how sophisticated they are.

http://poignantguide.net/ruby/
With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said
Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn't for everyone.

It is odd, I will give it that. The style wasn't for me, but it is
free, and pretty
thorough. The Little Book of Ruby goes more basic (assumes nothing on
the part of the reader) and is another decent choice.

http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/
The "PickAxe" as free online book, although it is only the first edition

The second edition is worth picking up anyway

As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is
enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste,
preferred OS, required features, etc.)

The Ruby install comes with 2 editors: FreeRIDE, which has a pretty
comprehensive
feature set, but I find it buggy and it crashes often for me. It also
comes with SCITE
which is a good editor.

On windows I really like the interface of Notepad++ (damn fine generic
windows editor
too) but it doesn't execute Ruby scripts within it (or I haven't
figured out how). For
Rails stuff I like RoRed, its got a nice balance of features.

I tried the various Ruby extensions in eclipse, and found them quite
buggy. RadRails
gets a lot of attention, but apparently it is best used in its
standalone UI form, and
not in the eclipse plugin form. Its also dependent on the Ruby module
for eclipse
which I have had issues with (it loses track of block 'end' statements).

 

[gregarican]

I would agree with this, as this is one of the first books I used to
get started learning Ruby. These SAMS books are great. For learning
other progrmaming languages as well. Due to upcoming business
requirements I needed to delve into C# and found that SAMS book
helpful as well. They are quick reads, give you enough info to get
started, without overwhelming you with too much info and putting you
to sleep. Once you do get your feet wet with Ruby I would recommend
"The Ruby Way", which now has an updated second edition. The first
edition helped me understand how to best leverage Ruby by
understanding the whys more than the hows that I first understood.
Kind of like learning Smalltalk. It's an easy language to learn how to
do things. But to learn why to do things a certain way gets you more
productive and more in-tune with getting the most out of your time.

 

[Rae]

I would agree with this, as this is one of the first books I used to
get started learning Ruby. These SAMS books are great. For learning
other progrmaming languages as well. Due to upcoming business
requirements I needed to delve into C# and found that SAMS book
helpful as well. They are quick reads, give you enough info to get
started, without overwhelming you with too much info and putting you
to sleep. Once you do get your feet wet with Ruby I would recommend
"The Ruby Way", which now has an updated second edition. The first
edition helped me understand how to best leverage Ruby by
understanding the whys more than the hows that I first understood.
Kind of like learning Smalltalk. It's an easy language to learn how to
do things. But to learn why to do things a certain way gets you more
productive and more in-tune with getting the most out of your time.



- Show quoted text -

Thanks to all who responded. I'll look into all of these.
much appreciated.
Rae