Another Ruby Book (and interview)

Ruby
1

Most ruby-talk readers probably know that a Ruby edition
of Refactoring is due out in a couple of months. I was kind
of caught by surprise by the news that a Ruby edition of
William Wake’s ‘Refactoring Workbook’ was in the works
too.

I interviewed William and his co-author, Kevin Rutherford
last week, and posted the interview this morning. Take
a look if you’re interested.

On Ruby: Ruby Refactoring Workbook Interview

2

On Mon, Dec 01, 2008 at 11:33:22PM +0900, pat eyler wrote:

On Ruby: Ruby Refactoring Workbook Interview
So . . . what’s the difference between this upcoming book and the Fields
and Harvie Refactoring: Ruby Edition? I’m not entirely clear on why
this book is better than, or particularly different from, the other.

I ask because I was considering getting a copy of Refactoring: Ruby
Edition, and now that this new book has appeared on the horizon I
wonder
if I should get that instead. Please note that while “get both” is a
reasonable idea in the long run, I’ll definitely only buy one at first,
and would like to know which would serve me better, initially.

3

On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 02:32:21AM +0900, pat eyler wrote:

The workbook is meant to be a tool to guide a practitioner through
the refactoring book. (Think of the workbook that came with your
Math texts back in elementary school.)

Thanks for clarifying. That wasn’t even slightly clear from the
interview.

4

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:13 AM, Chad P. [email protected]
wrote:

On Ruby: Ruby Refactoring Workbook Interview

So . . . what’s the difference between this upcoming book and the Fields
and Harvie Refactoring: Ruby Edition? I’m not entirely clear on why
this book is better than, or particularly different from, the other.

The workbook is meant to be a tool to guide a practitioner through
the refactoring book. (Think of the workbook that came with your
Math texts back in elementary school.)

If you’ve got a local resource who’s refactoring-fu is strong, or you
are already facile with the process, you probably don’t need the
workbook. If you’re trying to become the master refactorer from your
team and you’re starting from scratch, getting both is probably a
good idea.

I ask because I was considering getting a copy of Refactoring: Ruby
Edition, and now that this new book has appeared on the horizon I wonder
if I should get that instead. Please note that while “get both” is a
reasonable idea in the long run, I’ll definitely only buy one at first,
and would like to know which would serve me better, initially.

I’d buy Refactoring first, then consider the workbook depending on
how quickly I was coming up to speed vs. how quickly I want/need to.

5

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 5:58 PM, Chad P. [email protected] wrote:

On Fri, Dec 05, 2008 at 02:32:21AM +0900, pat eyler wrote:

The workbook is meant to be a tool to guide a practitioner through
the refactoring book. (Think of the workbook that came with your
Math texts back in elementary school.)

Thanks for clarifying. That wasn’t even slightly clear from the
interview.

I’ll correct that when I review the book (once it’s out). Thanks for
asking about it.