# New to ruby

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 18, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778 "2006-12-18T23:02:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TellaS_Ravichandra)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778/1 "2006-12-18T23:02:40Z")

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Hello all,

I have a years experience developing web applications in java.

I also thought myself Perl scripting.

I am completely new to Ruby and would like to learn and play with Ruby.

I started reading Programming Ruby (pragmatic series) for the past  
couple of days and also subscribed with this mailing list.

I have already installed ruby and wrote a bit of code.

Please suggest me if there is anything that would help me learn better.

Cheers,

Ravi

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**Author:** ![TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TellaS_Ravichandra)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778/2 "2006-12-18T23:10:41Z")

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I’m pretty much a beginner myself, and after you’ve read, and fully  
understood ‘The Pragmatic Programmer’s Guide’, I’d suggest doing the  
Ruby  
quiz ([www.rubyquiz.com](http://www.rubyquiz.com)) every week. Experience and practice is the key  
to  
getting good with the language… I’d imagine.

I think it’s very important that you fully understand the basics, so  
make  
sure you do.

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**Author:** ![TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TellaS_Ravichandra)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778/3 "2006-12-18T23:22:11Z")

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Tella, Ravichandra wrote:

> Please suggest me if there is anything that would help me learn better.

I’ve been teaching myself ruby over the past 6 months and I’ve found  
three things to be extremely helpful:

1. Being active on ruby-talk. I’ve learned a great deal from people on  
this list and have learned even more trying to answer other’s questions.

2. Using ruby in my every day life. I find ANY excuse to use ruby, even  
for simple tasks. Small scripts to parse CSV documents, add numbers,  
build reports, anything you can think of.

3. Visiting [www.rubyquiz.com](http://www.rubyquiz.com) and [www.codegolf.com](http://www.codegolf.com) when I run out of  
ideas but I’m in the mood to code.

Hope this helps,  
Drew

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**Author:** ![TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TellaS_Ravichandra)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778/4 "2006-12-20T19:53:17Z")

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Oh, thanks Peter. And thanks to all the Ruby Gurus out here, who made my  
Ruby notes possible.

Satish

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**Author:** ![TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/e56c9b/32.png) [@TellaS\_Ravichandra](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TellaS_Ravichandra)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/new-to-ruby/79778/5 "2006-12-19T15:52:16Z")

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Tella, Ravichandra wrote:

> I started reading Programming Ruby (pragmatic series) for the past  
> couple of days and also subscribed with this mailing list.
> 
> I have already installed ruby and wrote a bit of code.
> 
> Please suggest me if there is anything that would help me learn better.

Hi Ravi,

Welcome!

One problem I experience when learning new languages is that while it’s  
easy to plough through a book and feel pretty smart at the end… when  
you come to writing code, you start to realize you need to read all that  
stuff again a few times until it sinks in.

With that in mind, I’d recommend Satish T.'s bumper collection of  
Ruby tutorials that cover similar ground to Programming Ruby but,  
naturally, approach things from a slightly different direction. Seeing  
it all over again is more likely to get the knowledge to stick 🙂 See  
[http://sitekreator.com/satishtalim/toc.html](http://sitekreator.com/satishtalim/toc.html)

Cheers,  
Peter C.