I ended up getting this for Christmas from my “secret Santa”! Woohoo!

Good book, but I had to return it to the library before I could finish it. (I live in the Seattle area, but I had to get it on inter-library loan from Phoenix! You would think libraries around here would have it.)

I will probably buy the e-book directly from Pragmatic Programmers.

Programming in Python has proved to be very satisfying to me.
It allows me to concentrate in to the problem itself instead of how to map the logical model to computer lingo. Sure, this has been said before of many other computer languages, maybe even C in the ‘70s.

To me, Ruby seems like Python++. It also comes with batteries included, and who wouldn’t like talking Foxes (read Why’s poignant guide to Ruby, at least 1st chapter). And extending classes in Ruby is taken to next level: you don’t need to use inheritance to do it, nor resort to black magic. This book offers a good tour through features of Ruby and does it in style too.

I am learning Ruby programming, for starters. The advantages of this book include:

1. up-to-date (covers Ruby 1.8 instead of older versions)
2. in-depth description of the language
3. instructions on how to do testing
4. description of the Ruby runtime environment
5. comprehensive Library documentation for built-in and core classes
6. clear, easy-to-understand writing
7. good organization
8. very nice, handy table of contents and index

The book introduces the reader to the Ruby programming language and the tools that come with it in the first half. The second half documents the standard Ruby library.

No one book can cover everything, and do it well. So there are some things this book does not cover. Mostly, third-party add-on libraries, frameworks, and tools.

For instance, although Ruby on Rails frame and Rake tool are mentioned, they are not extensively covered.

If you plan to use Rails, you will want to get a book that describes that as well. I have the one from the Pragmatic Programmer series for that as well, and it is of the same high quality as this book. This one makes a good compliment for that one – since the Rails book assumes you already know Ruby.

First Edition is at http://www.rubycentral.com/book/index.html

An excellent introduction to the Ruby language. The fact alone that it includes individual chapters on unit testing, documentation, and package management/distribution make it the best book on a language ever. The rest of the book is incredible too.

The writing style of this book is both informative and interesting, being neither boring or overly comical.

One of the recommended books to learning Ruby. Skimmed through the book and it has a nice overall tone to it; neither too intimidating nor too simplistic.
I doubt that you need to read this book to master Ruby. Use this book more as a reference on the Ruby way of doing things.