Ruby newbie: 3 week learning project

[Al Abut - alabut.com]

Hi all, I'm (very) new to Ruby and I'm blogging out every day of a 3
week course to learn the language, you're all more than welcome to join
in:

http://alabut.com/nonsense/2005/03/learn-ruby-in-3-weeks.html

I'm new to the list/group as well, so I'm not sure what the ratio of
newbies to experts is here, but there might be a few that would like to
brush up on the basics or know of others that might be interested.

Thanks!

Al Abut
- - -
http://alabut.com
- - -

 

[B. K. Oxley (binkley)]

http://alabut.com/nonsense/2005/03/learn-ruby-in-3-weeks.html

This great -- thanks!


Cheers,
--binkley

 

[Nick Hall]

Hi all, I'm (very) new to Ruby and I'm blogging out every day of a 3
week course to learn the language, you're all more than welcome to join
in:
Thanks!

Al Abut

Great idea!! I've been having problems getting ruby "jump started" in
my mind. This will help me! Strength in numbers.

 

[James Edward Gray II]

Hi all, I'm (very) new to Ruby and I'm blogging out every day of a 3
week course to learn the language, you're all more than welcome to join
in:

http://alabut.com/nonsense/2005/03/learn-ruby-in-3-weeks.html

Welcome to the Ruby language and community.

I'm new to the list/group as well, so I'm not sure what the ratio of
newbies to experts is here, but there might be a few that would like to
brush up on the basics or know of others that might be interested.

Good luck with your explorations and don't hesitate to shout if we can
help illuminate some concept you run into with your studies. We love
to help.

When you have a little more experience and want to practice your new
language skills, take a stab at solving one of the Ruby Quizzes. A new
challenge is posted to this list every Friday, so you'll find one that
interests you eventually. Until then, start reading the solutions
people send in. That's a great way too get use to idiomatic Ruby.

Again, good luck and welcome!

James Edward Gray II

 

[Al Abut - alabut.com]

Welcome to the Ruby language and community.

Thanks! It's been a very quick and warm welcome. I've heard about the
positive vibe around the Ruby community and it's awesome to witness
firsthand.

Good luck with your explorations and don't hesitate to shout if we can
help illuminate some concept you run into with your studies. We love

to help.

That sounds great and I'm going to take you up on that right now,
here's something you can help with: in publicizing my project, I've
gotten a lot of well-intentioned "why should I learn Ruby?" questions
thrown my way and I've been stumbling in trying to explain why it's so
hot. I hadn't thought through why I'd have to explain that actually,
especially not in the some of the more designery circles I travel in. I
just assumed that it would be self-evident to those stymied by either
the hackyness of massaging PHP/ASP/whatever into proper OOP or by the
massively overcomplex Java/C/C++ languages. Can anyone help me explain
(in English!) why I'm so excited about learning Ruby?

When you have a little more experience and want to practice your new
language skills, take a stab at solving one of the Ruby Quizzes.

What a great idea, I'll definitely look out for those.

Al Abut
- - -
http://alabut.com
- - -

 

[Patrick Hurley]

I will second the suggestion for ruby quiz. I know a fair number of
languages so there is really nothing new in ruby, but it is in many
ways greater than the sum of its parts. I read the pick axe book and
did the most of the quizzes (I did the old ones and in the last two
weeks caught up). Writing code is always the best way to learn a
language and seeing a half dozen other solutions is always
illuminative as well.

I cannot call myself an expert yet, but I know enough to know I like
it and have started my first real project (using Rails) and will see
how it goes.

Patrick

 

[James Edward Gray II]

That sounds great and I'm going to take you up on that right now,
here's something you can help with: in publicizing my project, I've
gotten a lot of well-intentioned "why should I learn Ruby?" questions
thrown my way and I've been stumbling in trying to explain why it's so
hot. I hadn't thought through why I'd have to explain that actually,
especially not in the some of the more designery circles I travel in. I
just assumed that it would be self-evident to those stymied by either
the hackyness of massaging PHP/ASP/whatever into proper OOP or by the
massively overcomplex Java/C/C++ languages. Can anyone help me explain
(in English!) why I'm so excited about learning Ruby?

This is a common question, so searching the list archives would
probably help here. Here's a couple of messages found with my own
quick search:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/
thread/2816d23230d957b5/2b91e583f2db5073?q=Why+Ruby#2b91e583f2db5073

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_thread/
thread/aaa8a2cc48b0107/0daca0c782dd0f7a?q=Why+Ruby#0daca0c782dd0f7a

The description on the main site is quite good as well:

http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/20020101.html

In then end though, languages seem to vary their attractions by the
person telling the story. I can tell you what it means to me, but we
come from different programming backgrounds and thus my answers
probably won't match you own, after your studies.

Don't spend too much energy trying to please the masses. If they want
to learn, they will. Until then, give them a little tease, "Just watch
my blog and find out!"

Actually, this is my favorite quote ever from Ruby Talk, by Mike Clark,
so I'll use this as an excuse to drag it back out:

"Ruby?  Oh, you won't like this language.  (Slides Pixaxe II out of
view.)  It's entirely too fun and productive for most people."



James Edward Gray II

 

[Daniel Amelang]

Hey Al, I noticed on your webpage that you're in the San Diego area.
I'll be moving to San Diego for grad. school at UCSD come fall. Jamis
and I started the BYU Ruby Users Group back in 2003, so maybe you and
I could start up a San Diego Ruby Users Group (SRUG?, ooh, add H in
there and we get SHRUG!) in September. Plus, RubyConf will take place
in San Diego this October, so we'll have an extra push to get it
going.

I know everyone has said this already, but you _really_ should
consider changing your book to 'Programming Ruby'.

Dan

 

[Al Abut - alabut.com]

Hey Dan, yeah, that's rad, we should definitely hook up! Let's see how
much interest I can build up from this blogging series and maybe we can
even start it up sooner, have a nice cozy Ruby user group waiting for
you before you get here

And yeah, the Dave Thomas book looks great and I already have a
reference to it in the blog post under future things to dig into. I'm
already a big fan of his work, "Journeyman to Master" really helped me
advance my Actionscripting skills, I just didn't think it would work on
this project, since I had the idea of blogging out the progress on a
learning project that had a set and regular timeline (like the "Rails
In Four Days" PDF as well) rather than having to take a book and
haphazardly chop it up by how long I think it'll take me. I'm a newbie,
I don't know how long something will take by the very definition of
"newbie"!

Plus I figure that it's more of a natural progress to go from initially
learning a language to moving on to mastering the advanced concepts.
And although I appreciate their advice, I've noticed that the people
recommending "Pragmatic Programming" tend to already be advanced
programmers in more complicated languages who are "stepping down" to
Ruby, rather than designers like myself that are climbing the other way
up the tree and adding programming arrows to their quiver.

Al Abut
- - -
http://alabut.com
- - -

 

[Al Abut - alabut.com]

Hey Daniel, I'm not seeing my reply to you popping up on the google
groups, I'm wondering if I replied to you instead of the list? If so,
do me a favor and forward it here if you can.

Something I forgot to writeup initially - did you mean Jamis as in
37Signals' Jamis? Whoa, that's rad, 37S is practically every web
designer's Dream Team.

Al

 

[Hal Fulton]

Hey Al, I noticed on your webpage that you're in the San Diego area.
I'll be moving to San Diego for grad. school at UCSD come fall. Jamis
and I started the BYU Ruby Users Group back in 2003, so maybe you and
I could start up a San Diego Ruby Users Group (SRUG?, ooh, add H in
there and we get SHRUG!) in September. Plus, RubyConf will take place
in San Diego this October, so we'll have an extra push to get it
going.

I know everyone has said this already, but you _really_ should
consider changing your book to 'Programming Ruby'.

I'll weigh in here on the other side...

_Teach Yourself Ruby_ is a valid choice. It has a good, tight
organization, good material, and a good topic progression.

While Pickaxe is the classic work, and I would never be so heretical
as to disrecommend it, TYR might in some ways be better suited to
the newbie who wants to crunch through this stuff and learn Ruby.

And by the way, if you are judging TYR on the basis of other "TY"
books -- don't. The quality of these varies greatly, and this one
is among the best.

Of course, having said that, *every* Ruby programmer should own the
Pickaxe, period.


Just my opinion...

Hal

 

[James Edward Gray II]

Plus I figure that it's more of a natural progress to go from initially
learning a language to moving on to mastering the advanced concepts.
And although I appreciate their advice, I've noticed that the people
recommending "Pragmatic Programming" tend to already be advanced
programmers in more complicated languages who are "stepping down" to
Ruby, rather than designers like myself that are climbing the other way
up the tree and adding programming arrows to their quiver.

Yes, the Pickaxe is written for experienced programmers, in my opinion.
It assumes you have a good amount of knowledge going in, like a fair
grasp of object oriented programing.

I haven't read the other book, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's a
better volume for beginners. However, it would surprise me a lot if it
covered Ruby as in depth as the Pickaxe does. If the Pickaxe isn't the
first book you go through, make sure it's the second.

James Edward Gray II

P.S. Hal Fulton's The Ruby Way is a little dated, but chalked full of
practical Ruby code. I enjoyed it as well.

 

[Al Abut - alabut.com]

I'll weigh in here on the other side...

_Teach Yourself Ruby_ is a valid choice. It has a good, tight
organization, good material, and a good topic progression.

Thanks Hal, I was hoping that the format of the book would mesh with
the idea blogging out each day.

And by the way, if you are judging TYR on the basis of other "TY"
books -- don't. The quality of these varies greatly, and this one
is among the best.

To be perfectly honest, this was an internal concern of mine that I
hadn't voiced to anyone but not because I thought the series sucked,
simply because I wasn't familiar with them and this is the first Sams
Teach Yourself Whatever book for me.

Of course, having said that, *every* Ruby programmer should own the
Pickaxe, period.

That has definitely come through loud and clear and Pickaxe is going
in my library for sure. The "which book to use" meme has even inspired
an entire post on the issue from me:
http://alabut.com/nonsense/2005/03/ruby-book-im-sure-pickaxe-is-great.html

Thanks for all the great feedback from the list! One thing that I
wanted to reiterate that I may have not made clear earlier is that I
hope this blogging series is useful for more than just newbies and
anyone looking to brush up the basics or provide guidance to the
greenhorns is more than welcome. In fact, more advanced programmers
should be able to afford the time commitment even more (you already
know the concepts, it'll be easier) and not all of the chapters are
simply technical, there's definitely fodder for conversations about how
to do things "The Ruby Way" and experienced voices on the matter would
be kickass.

Al Abut
- - -
http://alabut.com
- - -

 

[Dave Burt]

I know everyone has said this already, but you _really_ should
consider changing your book to 'Programming Ruby'.

Hey since everyone's dissing your selection, I think you really *really*[1]
should change your book to Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby[2]. Because I
think it would be more fun. Also I don't think Sam's book has chunky bacon
or cigarettes like pokemon. But it isn't finished yet...

I'm looking forward to following your blog.

Cheers,
Dave

[1] Please don't take this seriously. I do recommend WPGtR, just not for
your serious learning Ruby blog.
[2] http://www.poignantguide.net/ruby/

 

[Chris Pine]

Yes, the Pickaxe is written for experienced programmers,
in my opinion. It assumes you have a good amount of
knowledge going in, like a fair grasp of object oriented
programing.

I tried to write my tutorial as sort of a bridge between being a total
non-programmer and being ready for the Pickaxe. It might be too easy
for you at first, but on the other hand, I've gotten a lot of positive
feedback from programmers and non-programmers alike. Plus, several
people I don't even know recommended it on 43 things; it warmed my
heart! Anyway, here 'tis:

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

Basically, it's a tutorial assuming no prior programming knowledge,
building one concept at a time, and focussing on learning only one way
to do things. (You can learn the other ways from the Pickaxe, but I've
found that new users don't want to know all 7 ways to declare a
string.) All of the examples are live code, with scripted input being
fed in as necessary, and the output is captured, formatted, and
displayed right there. So you know the examples really work. (In fact,
if you reload the pages using the random number or current time
examples, the output changes each time. How cool is that? I even
left in some of my mistakes, so you can see real error messages from
real mistakes, and you can see how I dealt with them.

Anyway, I just thought I should mention it.

Welcome to Ruby!

Chris

 

[Barbara Pfieffer]

I tried to write my tutorial as sort of a bridge between being a total
non-programmer and being ready for the Pickaxe. It might be too easy
for you at first, but on the other hand, I've gotten a lot of positive
feedback from programmers and non-programmers alike. Plus, several
people I don't even know recommended it on 43 things; it warmed my
heart! Anyway, here 'tis:

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

Basically, it's a tutorial assuming no prior programming knowledge,
building one concept at a time, and focussing on learning only one way
to do things. (You can learn the other ways from the Pickaxe, but I've
found that new users don't want to know all 7 ways to declare a
string.) All of the examples are live code, with scripted input being
fed in as necessary, and the output is captured, formatted, and
displayed right there. So you know the examples really work. (In fact,
if you reload the pages using the random number or current time
examples, the output changes each time. How cool is that? I even
left in some of my mistakes, so you can see real error messages from
real mistakes, and you can see how I dealt with them.

Anyway, I just thought I should mention it.

Welcome to Ruby!

Chris

I looked this over and it will really help me out. And I see Chris is in
Portland too. Thanks so much for posting this!

Barbara