I've bought "Programming Ruby" from Pragmatic Programmers (still in beta), but friends say that "The Ruby Way" is much better. Should I buy it or wait for Ruby 1.9 books?
+2
A:
Probably best to go ahead and buy the recommended book, this video will give some ideas of the incompatible changes in 1.9.
Turnkey
2008-12-13 01:52:23
A:
Ruby 1.9 isn't that much different, I'd recommend The Ruby Way as well
Paul Betts
2008-12-13 01:54:04
A:
Since 1.9 will likely go through a slew of changes in the first few weeks/months of release, probably safest to get the Ruby 1.8 book, learn the stable version of the environment, and if you find yourself having to upgrade to 1.9 for a new feature, or get involved in a project using 1.9, at least you'll have a solid foundation to advance from, and you'll only have to learn the nuances of the newer release.
Ruby is awesome about allowing multiple versions to run on the same system, with the application determining to run the newest, or a specified release.
Ruby is not so awesome on legacy applications that get broken along the way, however, I'd rather they break old applications in favor of releasing new versions that are revolutionary, not just bug fixes and feature hacks.
Adam
2008-12-13 02:47:46
Ruby 1.9.0 (a development release) came out a year ago, 1.9.1 (a production release) is scheduled to come out in a month, we pretty much know whats going to be in it.
Robert Gamble
2008-12-13 03:07:46
A:
The latest version of Programming Ruby has notes on what has changed in Ruby 1.9 so I'd encourage you to by that one.
Here is a link to the 1.9 edition
Keltia
2008-12-15 09:06:40
+4
A:
The Ruby Programming Language covers 1.8 and 1.9. It's an excellent reference book for either version. I highly recommend it.
AdamK
2009-03-01 21:13:21
+1
A:
The Ruby Programming Language is a much better book for professionals than "Programming Ruby" from the Pragmatic Programmers.
The Ruby Programming Language does cover both ruby 1.8 and 1.9, and is concise - having being written in the same style as "The C Programming Language" by K&R.
The "Programming Ruby" is a huge, heavy book (>1000 pages) and about half of it is just API - an API that you can already find on-line for free. (... and it's easier to search the API on-line). The object-oriented examples are verbose and not conceptually great.
cartoonfox
2009-11-02 21:21:58