New to programming AND new to Ruby

[Cassandra K.]

Hello. I am trying to teach myself Ruby. I have no background in
programming, or experience... only interest.

I have armed myself with Pragmatic Programmers Learn to Program, as well
as Koans. I am running into walls trying to learn these things myself,
because I get discouraged when there is no one to turn to when I have
any questions. I get stuck; I wander off. This is no good. Obviously
there is slow progression, when any.

The issue, then, is where do I turn when I have these (obviously simple)
questions? It seems both embarrassing and unnecessary to post on such a
place as this, for simple issues in learning (for example, getting stuck
on ruby koans).

Does anyone have a suggestion? Should I try to dig up a "Ruby mentor",
so to speak? And how would one go about doing something like that?

-Cassandra

 

[Kevin Ridgeon]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Would a study group of others working through the same book help.

After many years absence from the IT world I am currently trying to
kickstart my brain again by studying various subjects and am currently
working through the Prag Prog Learn to Program book myself.

Any others out there doing the same thing??/

kev

 

[Cassandra K.]

A study group sounds kind of cool. I'd be interested in that. I think
I'll be pretty far behind, though, as I have no prior knowledge of any
sort of programming. I'm willing to give it my best, though.

 

[Josh Cheek]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Hello. I am trying to teach myself Ruby. I have no background in
programming, or experience... only interest.

I have armed myself with Pragmatic Programmers Learn to Program, as well
as Koans. I am running into walls trying to learn these things myself,
because I get discouraged when there is no one to turn to when I have
any questions. I get stuck; I wander off. This is no good. Obviously
there is slow progression, when any.

The issue, then, is where do I turn when I have these (obviously simple)
questions? It seems both embarrassing and unnecessary to post on such a
place as this, for simple issues in learning (for example, getting stuck
on ruby koans).

Does anyone have a suggestion? Should I try to dig up a "Ruby mentor",
so to speak? And how would one go about doing something like that?

-Cassandra

For questions about how Ruby methods work, keep the docs handy
http://ruby-doc.org/core/ and an IRB session open that you can try out what
you read see what you think.

If that doesn't solve your question, or if your question isn't about how
some method / class works, then I recommend the IRC channel irc://
irc.freenode.net/ruby-lang
If you're on a Mac, you can use Colloquy to get on IRC
http://colloquy.info/I don't know what's best for other OS's, sorry
(though I just tried
http://webchat.freenode.net/ and it worked for me, in my Firefox browser).

 

[Kevin Ridgeon]

[Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.]

Lets have a think about the best way to do this and what we want from it
while waiting to see if there is any interest from others.

 

[James Edward Gray II]

Hello. I am trying to teach myself Ruby. I have no background in
programming, or experience... only interest.

Good on you for learning new things. We all need to do more of that. =
Welcome.

I have armed myself with Pragmatic Programmers Learn to Program, as = well
as Koans. I am running into walls trying to learn these things = myself,
because I get discouraged when there is no one to turn to when I have
any questions. I get stuck; I wander off. This is no good. = Obviously
there is slow progression, when any.

My first suggestion is not to feel bad. It's a lot to learn and it can =
be pretty counter intuitive at times.

We all had those moments when we were learning to program. I definitely =
doubted if I could ever do it at times.

It other words, everything you are experiencing is totally normal.

The issue, then, is where do I turn when I have these (obviously = simple)
questions? It seems both embarrassing and unnecessary to post on such = a
place as this, for simple issues in learning (for example, getting = stuck
on ruby koans).

Don't be afraid to ask things here. Very few of us bite. Most of us =
try to be patient and polite. If you aim for the same, I bet you'll be =
surprised at how we can get you over the humps. We enjoy helping.

Should I try to dig up a "Ruby mentor", so to speak? And how would =

one go about doing something like that?

A mentor and/or study group sound like great ideas to me. Why suffer =
alone when you can suffer with others? Mentors can be a great =
resource for helping you learn to think like a computer.

You might have a look at Ruby Mendicant University:

http://university.rubymendicant.com/

I believe it aims to help people in your position.

Don't give up! Knowing you need help is a great sign!

James Edward Gray II

 

[Chris Hulan]

You should check out the Railsbridge community (http://
railsbridge.org/)
As the name indicates it is Rails focused, however they have a lot of
resources and support
for those new to Ruby, and even new to programming, including
mentoring

Cheers

 

[Martin DeMello]

Hello. =A0I am trying to teach myself Ruby. =A0I have no background in
programming, or experience... only interest.

Check out http://rubylearning.org/class/

martin

 

[Abhijit]

Hey James,
I can help you with installation of Ruby. So just let me know
what problems you are having in downloading/installation of Ruby.


Thanks,
Abhijit

--
A transistor protected by a fast acting fuse, will protect the fuse by
blowing first.

Kevin,
I have no Programming or Ruby Skills and I think if a study group is form=

ed I would to sign up for the help. I am having a hard time getting=A0 ruby=
to download and working.

James


From: Kevin Ridgeon <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: New to programming AND new to Ruby
To: "ruby-talk ML" <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, January 31, 2011, 4:49 AM

Would a study group of others working through the same book help.

After many years absence from the IT world I am currently trying to
kickstart my brain again by studying various subjects and am currently
working through the Prag Prog Learn to Program book myself.

Any others out there doing the same thing??/

kev

 

[Dan Lewis]

posting simple questions on here shouldn't embarrass you, i do it all
the time. im 14, i did some c++ then tryed out java and then my friend
told me about ruby and here i am. the best thing about this forum is
that no one says oh you noob or your sooooo stupid. they give you a
honest answer and quite fast!

regards

-Dan-

 

[Clent Crumley]

be quiet noob (lol)

im in the same boat... except im 25 and making the transition to programmin=
g from web design.

this is just more fun (and profitable). learn aggressively and it will pay =
off.

Clent Crumley
Webmaster
Capitol Area Networks
________________________________________
From: Dan Lewis [[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 1:01 PM
To: ruby-talk ML
Subject: Re: New to programming AND new to Ruby

posting simple questions on here shouldn't embarrass you, i do it all
the time. im 14, i did some c++ then tryed out java and then my friend
told me about ruby and here i am. the best thing about this forum is
that no one says oh you noob or your sooooo stupid. they give you a
honest answer and quite fast!

regards

-Dan-