# Learning with exercises **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [August 4, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442 "2006-08-04T21:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/1 "2006-08-04T21:25:04Z")
I’ve been struggling through the pickaxe book for the last week or so, but I’m pretty new to programming and a lot of the ideas are new to me, so I’ve been having trouble making them stick. As I finish sections or chapters I try to make a script of some sort to use whatever has just been covered, but I usually can’t come up with ideas that cover enough different things without being too broad or ambitious. Is there any sort of problem set or something for learning ruby? I’m preferably looking for something online as I already bought the pickaxe book and I’m on what we call the “starving college student” budget. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/2 "2006-08-04T21:37:06Z")
On Aug 4, 2006, at 2:22 PM, RJ Melton wrote: > Is there any sort of problem set or something for learning ruby? Well, I’m clearly biased, but are you aware of the Ruby Q.: [http://rubyquiz.com/](http://rubyquiz.com/) James Edward G. II ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/3 "2006-08-04T22:04:09Z")
I’m none too biased (save for my admiration of the Ruby language), but I’ll say that RubyQuizzes are tough. I’ve just discovered how cool these quizzes are, and my first nearly-completed quiz was the Chip8 one. But, really, even if you don’t actually _do_ those quizzes, the solutions to them are invaluable, and really very clever. There are some smart people solving them and you can learn a lot quickly. I, too, am on the starving college budget, so I know how you feel. Really, the best way is to jump right in and start building stuff. If you’ve got a big idea, then go for it: you can break that big idea into smaller chunks and build up from there! That’s what I’ve been doing. Also, read a lot of code from other people. I regularly read a number of blogs that show their code and what it actually does and this has helped me tremendously. Do stuff that stretches your mind and your way of thinking. Read \_Why The Lucky Stiff’s Poignant Guide to Ruby and his blog as well. He’s got some trippy code that will mess you up, but it’s good because it reframes your mind into the right mindset, and it’ll make you comfortable with the less strange pieces of his code. On this note, maybe we can have a RubyQuiz for beginners? (Or at least a rating system for difficulty, etc.) Cheers! M.T. ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/4 "2006-08-04T23:13:32Z")
On Aug 4, 2006, at 3:01 PM, Matt T. wrote: > On this note, maybe we can have a RubyQuiz for beginners? (Or at least > a rating system for difficulty, etc.) Most quizzes these days are submissions. If you submit easier problems, quizzes will get easier. 😉 I generally rule out anything I can solve in one or two lines. I’m pretty open to most anything else though. We have certainly had very easy quizzes too: LCD Numbers and pp Pascal are two good examples, I think. James Edward G. II ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/5 "2006-08-05T01:19:40Z")
The quizzes are definitely something I’ll be following from now on. I might not understand most of them yet, but they seem like a good demonstration of the different things the language is capable of. As for Why the Lucky Stiff, that is certainly an, uh, interesting resource. 🙂 I read the Poignant guide today and very much enjoyed it, so I’ll take a look at his blog from time to time. Between these, and just some random reading on the internet I shouldn’t have too much trouble finding stuff. Much thanks to everyone who responded. ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/6 "2006-08-09T01:10:12Z")
I think this is exactly what you’re looking for: The Little Book of Ruby. [http://www.sapphiresteel.com/The-Little-Book-Of-Ruby](http://www.sapphiresteel.com/The-Little-Book-Of-Ruby) It’s free and comes with code examples. You can read along and open the rb files to see how it works, as you go along. It’s pretty cool. I haven’t coded anything for 5 or 6 years since my last few programing classes. It helped me a lot. Even with the examples, there’s a lot for a newb to chew off, so it will still be a challenge. -nate RJ Melton wrote: > I’ve been struggling through the pickaxe book for the last week or so, > but > I’m pretty new to programming and a lot of the > ideas are new to me, so I’ve been having trouble making them stick. As I > finish sections or chapters I try to make a > script of some sort to use whatever has just been covered, but I usually > can’t come up with ideas that cover enough > different things without being too broad or ambitious. Is there any sort > of > problem set or something for learning ruby? > I’m preferably looking for something online as I already bought the > pickaxe > book and I’m on what we call the “starving > college student” budget. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RJ\_Melton](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/RJ_Melton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/learning-with-exercises/101442/7 "2006-08-09T01:12:25Z")
Woops; nevermind. I just noticed the date of the original post. You’re probably like a pro now. Nate I. wrote: > I think this is exactly what you’re looking for: The Little Book of > Ruby. > > [http://www.sapphiresteel.com/The-Little-Book-Of-Ruby](http://www.sapphiresteel.com/The-Little-Book-Of-Ruby) > > It’s free and comes with code examples. You can read along and open the > rb files to see how it works, as you go along. It’s pretty cool. I > haven’t coded anything for 5 or 6 years since my last few programing > classes. It helped me a lot. Even with the examples, there’s a lot for > a newb to chew off, so it will still be a challenge. > > -nate > > RJ Melton wrote: > > > I’ve been struggling through the pickaxe book for the last week or so, > > but > > I’m pretty new to programming and a lot of the > > ideas are new to me, so I’ve been having trouble making them stick. As I > > finish sections or chapters I try to make a > > script of some sort to use whatever has just been covered, but I usually > > can’t come up with ideas that cover enough > > different things without being too broad or ambitious. Is there any sort > > of > > problem set or something for learning ruby? > > I’m preferably looking for something online as I already bought the > > pickaxe > > book and I’m on what we call the “starving > > college student” budget. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks.