Reputation: 12679

Learning Ruby, where do I start?

I'm a C++/C#/PHP/Javascript programmer who's been interested in learning Ruby for a while now. I just graduated and considering this means I no longer have homework to do, I figured now might be a good time.

Just one thing, I don't know where to start. Can someone point me in the direction of some good Ruby tutorials, what editor to use, basically anything that's relevant to a starting Ruby programmer. Perhaps some suggestions for fun projects that would help me learn the language? I'm running Windows, if it matters.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 3

Answers (12)

Liam

Reputation: 527

I was in the same boat 18 months ago—coming from other languages and looking for structured practical Ruby resources.

That’s how I found RubyCademy on X. I like their bite-sized code examples.

What really helped was their platform’s beginner and advanced courses, which focus on real-world examples instead of just theory.

Then there are tons of mini-projects & guides, so you’re coding constantly rather than just reading.

Hope this helps!

Upvotes: -1

JRL

Reputation: 78033

Books:

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I found this book excellent. The first part will teach you everything you need to know about Ruby, and the second part is the complete reference of built-in classes and the standard library.

While Agile Development with Rails is a great book, if you don't know Ruby, you'll soon find that you really need a pure Ruby book, and I recommend this one.

I also read this book:

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It's a very good book as well but does not cover Ruby 1.9 and does not contain a reference to the language, so I'd recommend the first book over this one.

Other

If you do get into Rails, I found the API docs found here much more readable than the standard ones.

For development, I've been using Netbeans. It has a very good Ruby and Rails support. I haven't tried other IDEs but it's worked out great so far for me.

Upvotes: 3

keifer94

Reputation: 136

I found the Exploring Everyday Things with R and Ruby book a good introduction to Ruby. The Ruby code was fun to read since some interesting problems were being solved.

Upvotes: 0

user181548

Reputation:

When I had to figure something out in Ruby, Ruby in twenty minutes was pretty useful. The best thing about it was that it really does only take about twenty minutes.

Upvotes: 0

BigBrother

Reputation: 1100

As you, I had a background in C++/C# and wanted to give Ruby on Rails a shot. Similar to some of the other responses you've received I found the initial best source in getting up with Ruby on Rails, just the framework, to be Agile Web Development with Rails. For the Ruby language I found the pick axe book to be fantastic - Programming Ruby 1.9. Both are available from Pragmatic Programmer.

Other great sources of Ruby and Ruby on Rails screencasts are:

As always, studying the source code produced by the gurus is a great resourcee!

You may also wish to consider looking for Ruby/Ruby on Rails blogs - perhaps in a different question on this site.

Upvotes: 0

Ken Liu

Reputation: 22914

If you want to read a fun introduction to ruby, you have to check out "why's (poignant) guide to Ruby". It is a crazy ruby tutorial that involves cartoon foxes and chunky bacon. It's not at all like your typical programming language book and is a pretty fun read.

Upvotes: 6

Kevin Peterson

Reputation: 7297

Good suggestions here, and I also highly recommend The Ruby Programming Language

Upvotes: 0

Toby

Reputation: 214

Well I'm not really a Ruby user and have little experience in Ruby, however I have noticed that the Ruby site does contain allot of excellent looking documentation including tutorials for getting started, tutorials for moving from another language to Ruby as well as a whole bunch of other great stuff. I would suggest having a look as it will offer a reasonable taste for the basics at the very least http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/

Upvotes: 0

lks128

Reputation: 986

I started to learn ruby simply reading this: http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/

In addition to ruby language you may watch screencasts about rails: http://railscasts.com/

As an Windows IDE I'm using E-TextEditor with Monaco font.

Upvotes: 0

ennuikiller

Reputation: 46985

This is the only book you'll need for ruby:

Design Patterns in Ruby

For a beginning book on rails this one is easy to read and teaches most of the fundamentals:

Simply Rails 2

Upvotes: 1

Ryan Florence

Reputation: 13483

My interest in ruby was for rails, like many other engineers.

I started with this book: http://www.pragprog.com/titles/rails3/agile-web-development-with-rails-third-edition

It's awesome. I learned rails and ruby at the same time, basically. Some recommend learning ruby first, but I'm way too impatient for sound advice.

Here's their book on strictly ruby, haven't read it but I imagine it's as good as the others. http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9

Upvotes: 2

zpesk

Reputation: 4353

In terms of an editor you may want to look at netbeans or the RubyMine editor.

In terms of tutorials, try rubylearning.com. If you are interested in Rails, there are plenty of books and online tutorials that will help get you started.

Stack Overflow is a great resource if you have any questions.

Upvotes: 0

Learning Ruby, where do I start?

Answers (12)

Books:

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