Programming Ruby 1.9 & 2.0: The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide (2013)

Road Map

The main text of this book has four separate parts, each with its own personality and each addressing different aspects of the Ruby language.

In Part I, Facets of Ruby, you’ll find a Ruby tutorial. It starts with some notes on getting Ruby running on your system followed by a short chapter on some of the terminology and concepts that are unique to Ruby. This chapter also includes enough basic syntax so that the other chapters will make sense. The rest of the tutorial is a top-down look at the language. There we talk about classes and objects, types, expressions, and all the other things that make up the language. We end with chapters on unit testing and digging yourself out when trouble strikes.

One of the great things about Ruby is how well it integrates with its environment. Part II, Ruby in Its Setting, investigates this. Here you’ll find practical information on using Ruby: using the interpreter options, using irb, documenting your Ruby code, and packaging your Ruby gems so that others can enjoy them. You’ll also find tutorials on some common Ruby tasks: using Ruby with the Web and using Ruby in a Microsoft Windows environment (including wonderful things such as native API calls, COM integration, and Windows Automation). We’ll also touch on using Ruby to access the Internet.

Part III, Ruby Crystallized, contains more advanced material. Here you’ll find all the gory details about the language, the concept of duck typing, the object model, metaprogramming, tainting, reflection, and marshaling. You could probably speed-read this the first time through, but we think you’ll come back to it as you start to use Ruby in earnest.

The Ruby Library Reference is Part IV. It’s big. We document more than 1,300 methods in 57 built-in classes and modules (up from 800 methods in 40 classes and modules in the previous edition). On top of that, we now document the library modules that are included in the standard Ruby distribution (98 of them).

So, how should you read this book? Well, depending on your level of expertise with programming in general and OO in particular, you may initially want to read just a few portions of the book. Here are our recommendations.

If you’re a beginner, you may want to start with the tutorial material in Part I. Keep the library reference close at hand as you start to write programs. Get familiar with the basic classes such as Array, Hash, and String. As you become more comfortable in the environment, you may want to investigate some of the more advanced topics in Part III.

If you’re already comfortable with Perl, Python, Java, or Smalltalk, then we suggest reading Chapter 1, Getting Started, which talks about installing and running Ruby, followed by the introduction in Chapter 2, Ruby.new. From there, you may want to take the slower approach and keep going with the tutorial that follows, or you can skip ahead to the gritty details starting in Part III, followed by the library reference in Part IV.

Experts, gurus, and “I-don’t-need-no-stinking-tutorial” types can dive straight into the language reference in Chapter 22, The Ruby Language; skim the library reference; and then use the book as a (rather attractive) coffee coaster.

Of course, nothing is wrong with just starting at the beginning and working your way through page by page.

And don’t forget, if you run into a problem that you can’t figure out, help is available. For more information, see Appendix 1, Support.