# Next steps in Ruby?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [October 19, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508 "2009-10-19T12:39:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trevoke)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508/1 "2009-10-19T12:39:09Z")

</div>

Hi everyone,  
I’ve got a “solid” grasp on the basics of Ruby. I can write stuff with  
it. Everything is an object, so the Ruby way is to go that way. Some  
objects aren’t Enumerable, but Enumerable makes us happy. Rdoc is your  
friend.  
Now, I’m looking for the next steps. I have already found a very, very  
basic use for method\_missing:  
an object has a @property hash, so calling MyObject.x raises an error if  
x is not a key, and returns the value of @property[x] otherwise.

What material would you recommend to develop more advanced Ruby skills,  
such as metaprogramming, Ruby that writes itself dynamically,  
const\_missing, method\_missing, etc ?  
Imagine you’re teaching someone and one day you look at them and you say  
“Young padawan…” 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trevoke)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508/2 "2009-10-19T13:23:00Z")

</div>

Young (but probably older than myself) padawan…

go out and find a project you or other people find useful  
and code away… You will learn best by actually coding  
something and by fully applying yourself to it. The more  
you want it to work, the more you’ll learn from it.

That’s my experience.

If you don’t know what to do, ask on the mailing list  
or get inspired by other people’s projects (e.g. on  
GitHub, Ohloh and other such marvellous places).

Greetz!

2009/10/19 Aldric G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trevoke)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508/3 "2009-10-19T15:22:15Z")

</div>

Fabian S. wrote:

> Young (but probably older than myself) padawan…
> 
> go out and find a project you or other people find useful  
> and code away… You will learn best by actually coding  
> something and by fully applying yourself to it. The more  
> you want it to work, the more you’ll learn from it.

Maybe. I’m 26.  
I am writing something already - [GitHub - Trevoke/SGFParser: A Ruby library to parse SGF (Smart Game Format) files, best-known for holding weiqi / go game records](http://github.com/Trevoke/SGFParser) .  
It’s a little crude right now, but it’s going to be developed further  
and further into useful apps / maybe a full-fledged go software.  
The part that scares me the most is the graphical user interface to play  
go / see the results, but that’s a long way away. First I need to find a  
good way to represent the data of a go game so it’s easily manipulated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trevoke)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508/4 "2009-10-19T19:18:23Z")

</div>

Aldric G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> What material would you recommend to develop more advanced Ruby skills,  
> such as metaprogramming, Ruby that writes itself dynamically,  
> const\_missing, method\_missing, etc ?

> **[Ruby Best Practices](https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/ruby-best-practices/9780596157487/)**
>
> How do you write truly elegant code with Ruby? Ruby Best Practices is for programmers who want to use Ruby as experienced Rubyists do. Written by the developer of the … - Selection from Ruby Best Practices \[Book\]

This the best “second steps in Ruby” book known to me. m.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@trevoke](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/trevoke)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/next-steps-in-ruby/177508/5 "2009-10-19T19:40:02Z")

</div>

> Maybe. I’m 26.

then most definitely… 😉

Greetz!