# Everyday scripting with Ruby (the book) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 1, 2007, 10:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093 "2007-02-01T10:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 10:59am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/1 "2007-02-01T10:59:55Z")
I am curious, has anyone read this? It looks good, and I like the idea of a tester- friendly ruby primer, but I would like to know what else it covers. Like whether it introduces WATIR, Selenium etc. Learning the language is good, but testers don’t have as much time or discretion to learn languages, so return on time investment is important. So I would hope that after reading the book they would be in a position to independently start doing their own tests. Normally you can sometimes get a sample chapter or a table of contents, but I can’t seem to locate it. So I can’t determine if the focus of the book is what I need. (but a Ruby primer for testers, on its own is good). [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everyday-Scripting-Ruby-Teams-Testers/dp/0977616614/sr=1-1/qid=1170323075/ref=sr\_1\_1/202-7055669-2259816?ie=UTF8&s=books](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everyday-Scripting-Ruby-Teams-Testers/dp/0977616614/sr=1-1/qid=1170323075/ref=sr_1_1/202-7055669-2259816?ie=UTF8&s=books) Would it be better if I posted this to the WATIR list? ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/2 "2007-02-01T12:54:12Z")
On 2/1/07, Richard C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I am curious, has anyone read this? It looks good, and I like the idea > of a tester-\> friendly ruby primer, but I would like to know what else it covers. [http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/bmsft/](http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/bmsft/) Ah d’oh, it would help if I actually _read_ the Prag Prog link instead of just admiring the book cover and all fonts greater than 16pt. Anyway, it doesn’t seem to cover any WATIR, Selenium, Fit or Fitnesse, but it is a primer that would help to get people up to speed. ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/3 "2007-02-01T13:26:15Z")
On 2/1/07, Richard C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Anyway, it doesn’t seem to cover any WATIR, Selenium, Fit or Fitnesse, but > it is a primer that would help to get people up to speed. What about this comment from that link (thanks btw it’s what I was looking for too): Marick explains the Ruby language using a series of short, practical examples. Watir users and other testers who want to learn Ruby will find it very accessible. Bret P. Lead Developer Watir ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/4 "2007-02-01T13:44:15Z")
On 2/1/07, Jason M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Lead Developer > Watir Bret is the first guy credited in the acknowledgements. But the book isn’t a manual on how to use WATIR. Or judging by the Table of Contents, they couldn’t have spent more than 2 pages talking about it. WATIR can more or less be learned without knowing Ruby, you can get stuff done with just the minimal amount of Ruby syntax, arrays, puts, basic loops and conditionals. But you will hit a wall, or a tester would have to call in a programmer, when you need to do things like tie all your tests together, generate a test report etc. Much like Rails, people can get a lot done without knowing Ruby, and just knowing the Rails syntax subset. For that community they got the Ruby for Rails book to get them onto Ruby enlightenment. I think this book could accomplish the same thing for testers. I really really liked the first tutorial example: How to test if an uninstaller actually did its job right and cleaned up everything. If you adapt that example for your own products, and never open the book again, that book has paid for itself the first time you run that test. Eagerly looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/5 "2007-02-01T13:45:15Z")
On 2/1/07, Richard C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > Bret P. > > Lead Developer > > Watir > > Bret is the first guy credited in the acknowledgements. But the book > isn’t a manual on how to use WATIR. Or judging by the Table of Contents, > they couldn’t have spent more than 2 pages talking about it. Actually, perhaps I should talk to Bret about it on the WATIR list … ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/6 "2007-02-01T15:11:26Z")
On Feb 1, 3:59 am, “Richard C.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > I am curious, has anyone read this? It looks good, and I like the idea > of a tester- > friendly ruby primer, but I would like to know what else it covers. > > Like whether it introduces WATIR, Selenium etc. No it does not discuss these tools (nor Fit). It does, however, have a detailed explanation of Test::Unit in a context that testers will probably appreciate. > Learning the language is good, but testers don’t have as much time or discretion > to learn languages, so return on time investment is important. So I would hope > that after reading the book they would be in a position to independently start > doing their own tests. I would say that it is more of a Ruby language manual for testers than a primer on how to use Ruby for testing. Testers who have been learning Watir and have been wanting a book that will help them with Ruby are likely to like this book. I have found that testers usually prefer concrete, realistic examples over abstract concepts or fanciful examples. Although many of the Ruby programming examples in the book may not quite count as “testing” to many testers, they will be close enough, that if they already know Watir, they will be able to see how to put it all together pretty quickly. > Would it be better if I posted this to the WATIR list? You comments would also be welcome there. Many Watir users don’t read this list. We get a lot of general Ruby questions on the list. As you surely know, Watir really isn’t a testing tool, but rather a library for driving a browser. Most testers find that they need to build a larger testing framework, but don’t know enough Ruby to know how to really do this. These people should be reading Everyday Scripting. I just got my copy of the published version yesterday, although I had read the galley’s previously. I’m planning to write up a longer review this weekend. Bret ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/7 "2007-02-02T04:29:46Z")
Brian M. wrote: > > programming examples in the book may not quite count as “testing” to > > should because they don’t know about ideas like refactoring, unit I have the book – it’s great!! – M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P) [http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/](http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/) If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire. ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/8 "2007-02-02T04:33:46Z")
Richard C. wrote: > I really really liked the first tutorial example: How to test if an > uninstaller > actually did its job right and cleaned up everything. If you adapt > that example > for your own products, and never open the book again, that book has paid > for itself the first time you run that test. > Sadly, it will not work for the uninstaller that comes with the Ruby > One-Click Installer. – M. Edward (Ed) Borasky, FBG, AB, PTA, PGS, MS, MNLP, NST, ACMC(P) [http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/](http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/) If God had meant for carrots to be eaten cooked, He would have given rabbits fire. ---
**Author:** ![croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@croxmeister](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/croxmeister)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/everyday-scripting-with-ruby-the-book/84093/9 "2007-02-01T20:08:52Z")
On Feb 1, 2007, at 8:10 AM, Bret P. wrote: > quickly. > Bret is right about this. A bit more: - Back when the title was _Scripting for Testers_, I decided to use examples _other_ than automating test execution. Too often, testers focus only on test automation when they have lots of other tasks they could automate for quick wins. - Partly because of that, some reviewers commented that the original title was too narrow. Other people could get use out of the book. So we changed the title. - “[Part 3 is] mainly about teaching you how to write scripts in a steady, controlled way. All programmers know the feeling of hitting that wall where they can’t make any change without breaking something. I want to show you how to push that wall further away.” My experience has been that testers hit that wall way sooner than they should because they don’t know about ideas like refactoring, unit testing, and intention-revealing code, so I aimed to help with that. - I wanted to emphasize scripts that live in a larger world, so I’ve tried to help readers find and make use of other people’s work, and to make their own work easy for others to install. * * * Brian M., independent consultant Mostly on agile methods with a testing slant [www.exampler.com](http://www.exampler.com), [www.testing.com/cgi-bin/blog](http://www.testing.com/cgi-bin/blog)