Programmer Musings

Review of Programming Ruby

Programming Ruby
Dave Thomas, Chad Fowler, and Andy Hunt
Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005.

This book has taken me a really long time to finish. It's not because of the writing. The writing is clear and readable. The material is well-presented and seems to cover the topic well. I don't see any glaring errors or anything that I didn't like about the style or presentation. Despite all of that, there appears to be something missing.

Over the years, I have taught myself over a dozen programming languages from various books. Some books were better than others. Some languages I learned because I wanted to, some I learned because I had to. With everything I've been hearing about Ruby, this sounded like a language I would want to learn. Unfortunately, this book did not give me a compelling reason to use Ruby.

Don't get me wrong, the book makes a wonderful reference. It also provides a very good tutorial. It just doesn't compel me to use the language. Different languages have different strengths, and different personalities. This book did not tell me these things about the Ruby programming language.

If you have a real need to learn Ruby or you are already driven to use the language, this book will definitely fill in what you need. If you are like me, you will probably need something else, as well. Despite that, I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to work with the Ruby language.