# Learning tools for a novice **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [January 29, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799 "2007-01-29T20:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/1 "2007-01-29T20:11:18Z")
Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such elementary learning tool? Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One that would include the software and other tools you need to make a program? I see a lot of code examples on the various tutorial sites but nothing really on what programs you need to make a Ruby program. What software I’d need to buy or hopefully download free. I have FreeRide and some java programs and Netbeans (which apparantly doesn’t work with .rb files) I’m more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told I need to learn Ruby first. thanks, Rae ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/2 "2007-01-29T20:53:37Z")
Rae wrote: > Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such > elementary learning tool? > Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One > that would include the software and other tools you need to make a > program? I see a lot of code examples on the various tutorial sites > but nothing really on what programs you need to make a Ruby program. > What software I’d need to buy or hopefully download free. I have > FreeRide and some java programs and Netbeans (which apparantly doesn’t > work with .rb files) > > I’m more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told > I need to learn Ruby first. > > thanks, > > Rae Learning ruby in 21 Days - SAM’s Is a good starting point ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/3 "2007-01-29T21:20:33Z")
Rae wrote: > I’m more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told > I need to learn Ruby first. [http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/](http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/) Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a nice progression. [http://poignantguide.net/ruby/](http://poignantguide.net/ruby/) With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said 😉 Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn’t for everyone. [http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/) The “PickAxe” as free online book, although it is only the first edition As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste, preferred OS, required features, etc.) - Phill ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/4 "2007-01-30T00:01:07Z")
Thanks. As for software recommendations, my taste is “simple” - the simpler the better - Operating system: Windows XP, builing databases and manipulating the data and stored values… And later, once I am familiar with the language, to build a website. What program(s) would I need for these needs? Rae ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/5 "2007-01-30T05:36:55Z")
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > > > > [Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/) > The “PickAxe” as free online book, although it is only the first edition > > As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is > enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste, > preferred OS, required features, etc.) > > - Phill I will add the very recently released (last week) “Everyday Scripting with Ruby”. [http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/bmsft/](http://pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/bmsft/) P.S.: It’s _chunky_ bacon! **CHUNKY** 🙂 – 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:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/6 "2007-01-30T00:13:09Z")
Rae wrote: > Thanks. > As for software recommendations, my taste is “simple” - the simpler > the better - Operating system: Windows XP, builing databases and > manipulating the data and stored values… And later, once I am > familiar with the language, to build a website. What program(s) would > I need for these needs? Well, SciTE is quite a good choice in such a case (it is part of the Ruby one click installer for Windows, for example) and cna run non-interactive Ruby scripts from within SciTE. It is free, and supports syntax highlighting, as well as automatic indentation of code. Next comes Mondrian IDE (haven’t tried it), which is written in pure Ruby, and after that there’s Eclipse with the Ruby Development Tools. I can’t really judge the IDEs though, as I don’t have a need yet. And you already have all you need, if you have Ruby installed: Notepad as text editor, irb to test short snippets of code, and, of course, the Ruby interpreter. Fortunately, you don’t need specialised programs for your needs, as Ruby is a scripting language, so there’s no need for specialized software. It’s up to you to find which toolset fits your own needs best, as there is no tried and true suite of tools for every developer. -Phill ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/7 "2007-01-30T19:22:35Z")
I would agree with this, as this is one of the first books I used to get started learning Ruby. These SAMS books are great. For learning other progrmaming languages as well. Due to upcoming business requirements I needed to delve into C# and found that SAMS book helpful as well. They are quick reads, give you enough info to get started, without overwhelming you with too much info and putting you to sleep. Once you do get your feet wet with Ruby I would recommend “The Ruby Way”, which now has an updated second edition. The first edition helped me understand how to best leverage Ruby by understanding the whys more than the hows that I first understood. Kind of like learning Smalltalk. It’s an easy language to learn how to do things. But to learn why to do things a certain way gets you more productive and more in-tune with getting the most out of your time. ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/8 "2007-01-30T12:03:49Z")
On 1/29/07, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Rae wrote: > > > Is there a book like programming Ruby for dummies or other such > > elementary learning tool? There is a ‘Ruby on Rails for Dummies’ book. I don’t know how it stacks up against the competition, but if you are a fan of the ‘Dummies’ series you should possibly look it up. I find the Ruby Cookbook handy to mine for examples of when I need to get something done but don’t personally know how - most of the tasks can be mapped readily to something that you need to do directly - its a great book. I don’t know if the Rails Cookbook is as good, haven’t read it, but the Ruby Cookbook can be used with little Ruby knowledge, whereas I presume that some familiarity with Rails is desirable to get most use out of the Rails cookbook. > > I’m more interested in creating a web with Ruby on Rails but was told > > I need to learn Ruby first. > > [Learn to Program, by Chris Pine](http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/) > Has code examples and little exercises, and is very helpful, with a nice > progression. Great writing style. I am teaching my Dad & girlfriend how to program with it. Though it is a generic programming book, with Ruby as the instruction language. Not exactly a Ruby primer, but it is dead cheap, and it does eventually introduce you to Ruby concepts like blocks etc. I would imagine that this book is probably the best at this. The elegance of using many of these Ruby structures probably hides just how sophisticated they are. > [http://poignantguide.net/ruby/](http://poignantguide.net/ruby/) > With foxes and crunchy bacon 'Nuff said 😉 > Seriously: It is quite good, but the style isn’t for everyone. It is odd, I will give it that. The style wasn’t for me, but it is free, and pretty thorough. The Little Book of Ruby goes more basic (assumes nothing on the part of the reader) and is another decent choice. > [Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide](http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/) > The “PickAxe” as free online book, although it is only the first edition The second edition is worth picking up anyway > As to the programs needed to write a Ruby script: A text editor is > enough. Everything else depends on a number of variables (like taste, > preferred OS, required features, etc.) The Ruby install comes with 2 editors: FreeRIDE, which has a pretty comprehensive feature set, but I find it buggy and it crashes often for me. It also comes with SCITE which is a good editor. On windows I really like the interface of Notepad++ (damn fine generic windows editor too) but it doesn’t execute Ruby scripts within it (or I haven’t figured out how). For Rails stuff I like RoRed, its got a nice balance of features. I tried the various Ruby extensions in eclipse, and found them quite buggy. RadRails gets a lot of attention, but apparently it is best used in its standalone UI form, and not in the eclipse plugin form. Its also dependent on the Ruby module for eclipse which I have had issues with (it loses track of block ‘end’ statements). ---
**Author:** ![Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rae](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Rae)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-tools-for-a-novice/83799/9 "2007-01-31T04:00:22Z")
On Jan 30, 9:08 am, “gregarican” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Kind of like learning Smalltalk. It’s an easy language to learn how to > > > > Can someone recommend some really basic beginner books for Ruby? One > > > thanks, > > > > RaeLearning ruby in 21 Days - SAM’s > > > Is a good starting point > > > – > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.-Hide quoted text – Show quoted text – Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Thanks to all who responded. I’ll look into all of these. much appreciated. Rae