The Ruby Programming Language

This book is more than a book. It will be one of THE books that will change the face of human development and subsequent history. I have rarely esteemed a book so highly as this one. This book is as significant as the complete works of Shakespeare, Beethoven, or Einstein. Matz seems to be an expert in educational theory and also linguistics of the English language. The reader experiences a circular learning curve. Within 70 per cent of the book the reader experiences a 3-fold revelatory cycle into the insight and the eventual beauty of the genius of the mind which is Matz. The subject matter is explained in levels. If you think you know it read it again. Every time you read it you see something new. It is like a painting by Rembrandt. You will never leave this book. David Flannagan is also a very accomplished author.
In computer science there are no short cuts. Without a masters understanding of the grammar and structure of communication which is code, the user will waste many weeks and months getting nowhere quite randomly. This book will change the way that you look at the Ruby language forever, and you will never achieve this from any other book, because this is an unbeatable book. If you have no interest in being a developer or end user of any ruby code, this book is not necessary to develop the "hello world" project.

The new authoritative Ruby book. Buy this, not the Pickaxe! (9/9 people found this helpful)

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 your "Bible" for the Ruby language, 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.

David Flanagan, Yukihiro Matsumoto

Reader Reviews:

A VERY important book. (0/1 people found this helpful)

The new authoritative Ruby book. Buy this, not the Pickaxe! (9/9 people found this helpful)

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