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Even with a language like Ruby, teaching complete novices how to program is no mean feat. Peter Cooper's new book 'Beginning Ruby' attempts to take the complete beginner through being a competent programmer.

Rating 8/10

Review

The cover says 'Beginning Ruby' aims to take you from 'Novice to Professional' and the book achieves to a good extent. At the beginning it assumes little or no prior programming experience. This is a good thing - it's what Cooper set out to achieve, but occasionally it feels like the explanations are slightly rushed. I found myself wondering if they only made sense because I already understand these concepts. This is a minor point though as there is a lot of ground to cover. The learning curve is sharp and we're soon dealing with more in-depth parts of Ruby programming.

Throughout the book new concepts are introduced and followed by fun applications to put the theory into practice. irb is introduced straight away which is a great way for the reader to get stuck in. There is a 'dungeons & dragons'-style app explaining object orientation and later on, an automated 'bot' that you can talk to if you're feeling lonely.

One of my favourite chapters talks about the Ruby 'Eco-system'. This is such a great subject to cover as it's so key to the appeal of Ruby. We have a really active, enthusiastic and above all friendly community and it's worth welcoming new programers. The chapter covers the history of Ruby, the community and how to become a part of it.

Other useful parts of note are a chapter running over useful gems and how to use them, a primer for experienced developers to learn Ruby syntax and concepts quickly and of course no Ruby book is complete without a chapter on Rails. It's not the greatest text I've seen on Rails but it does give a good overview that will get beginners started.

Overall, I would recommend this to beginners or those new to Ruby. It covers enough to satisfy more experienced programmers without being too detailed for newbies. As Cooper said himself, the pickaxe is a must on a Ruby programmer's bookshelf, but it's not exactly accessible for those starting out.

Oh it's also worth mentioning that a forward why the lucky stiff is a great way to start a book.

Beginning Ruby is available from Amazon.