Home > "why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best language intro EVER

"why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best language intro EVER
Posted by Kaleb Brasee on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 07:59 PM
I just started taking a look at the programming language Ruby a few days ago -- it's become big enough (or has loud enough fanbois) to get my attention. From what I've seen it actually looks pretty good, I'm going to work at it for a while.

Anyways, I was looking for a good introduction to the language. Any oh boy did I find it, in "why's (poignant) guide to ruby". It's not just a plain-English, straightforward, fantastic introduction to Ruby. It is also by far the most entertaining technical writing I have ever read. So funny! I was hooked from the beginning page, and the cartoon foxes are absolutely killing me.

Cartoon Foxes and their Chunky Bacon

If the language is half as fun as this introduction, I'll probably switch over to it exclusively, dynamic typing and all.
4 comments for ""why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best language intro EVER":

  1. Re: "why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best l
    Posted by James Walden on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 02:14 PM
    Why's guide is a really fun introduction to Ruby, and I'm glad to see it back on the web. I'm using Ruby heavily these days, and I created a Ruby course that I teach about once a semester. You can see the complete schedule, with notes, labs, and assignments at http://faculty.cs.nku.edu/~waldenj/classes/2008/fall/cit383/schedule.html. It's not as fun as why's guide, but it does go deeper.
  2. Re: "why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best l
    Posted by Kaleb Brasee on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:23 AM
    Hey Dr. Walden, thanks for the additional info! I'm definitely going to check it out. You're right, why's guide doesn't go very deep, just a basic intro + some entertaining and bizarre short stories.

    I've done enough Java for a while, so I had to decide on another language to pick up. Scala is interesting and I worked with it for a while, but I finally decided to pick up Ruby first. It still has some functional elements (although a little less pure than Scala, and much less than something like F# or Haskell). The popularity of the Rails framework did have a lot to do with my selection. My work is usually either web services or web apps, so I figure there's a chance it might be usable. At the very least, it's a slightly different way to think about things, which is always good!
  3. Re: "why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best l
    Posted by Jake on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 09:45 AM
    CHUNKY BACON
  4. Re: "why's (poignant) guide to ruby" is the best l
    Posted by Kabe on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 10:41 PM
    OH YOU!

Sign in

Email:
Password:


Create an account
Reset password