Title: Ruby Pocket Reference Author: Michael Fitzgerald Edition: First Publication Month: July 2007 Publisher: O'Reilly Media Series: Pocket References ISBN 10: 0-596-51481-6 ISBN 13: 9780596514815 Pages: 176
Short Review
Smiley Rating: Excellent. :) :) :) :) :) of 5
This small book is an excellent concise quick reference intended for a competent user of Ruby. If that's what you want, I highly recommend this book.
If you want more detail, you could see my somewhat longer review of this little book.
George
of Camelot.pm and Oakland.pm
Miscellaneous
Section Titles
- Running Ruby
- Reserved Words
- Operators
- Comments
- Numbers
- Variables
- Symbols
- Predefined Variables
- Pseudovariables
- Global Constants
- Ranges
- Methods
- Conditional Statements
- Classes
- Files
- The IO Class
- Exception Handling
- Object Class
- Kernel Module
- String Class
- Array Class
- Hash Class
- Time Formatting Directives
- Interactive Ruby (irb)
- Ruby Debugger
- Ruby Documentation
- RDoc Options
- RubyGems
- Rake
- Ruby Resources
- Glossary
Note
- To view the full table of contents, visit the O'Reilly catalog entry for this book.
Online Watch
Safari
Last time (August 19) I looked for this book on Safari Tech Books Online, I didn't see it. :( I did see a number of other O'Reilly Pocket References, even one from 2007.
Ruby
There's a great deal of info about Ruby on the Net.
Some sites you might want to check out are:
One of the things you'll find at RubyCentral is the first edition of "Programming Ruby".
I found the following page useful:
You might also do some searches such as:
ruby "at sign"
Another way to learn about Ruby (and have fun too), is to read "Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby".
Reviews
The two cover images above are for the two Ruby books I've reviewed. Click on the cover image and you'll go to my review of the corresponding book.
Note that the author of this book is also the author of Learning Ruby.
You might also try some searches such as:
"ruby pocket reference" review
ruby review
Author
The O'Reilly Network has some useful info about the author.
The wy'east communications site also has useful info about the author.
Some Index Terms
The following index terms have at least 5 entries under them:
- &
- < > (angle brackets)
- *
- :
- $
- =
- +
- [ ] (square brackets)
- |
- accessor methods
- Array class
- arrays
- classes
- conditional statements
- each method
- end
- File class
- files
- if statement
- instance variables
- IO class
- Kernel module
- methods
- modules
- new method
- objects
- Rake
- RDoc
- RubyGems package
- statements
- strings
- variables
Somewhat Longer Review
Contents
The Title
Ruby
Ruby
- is a programming language
- is interpretive
- is object oriented
- has familiar syntax for many programmers
- was created by Yukihiro Matsumoto
Pocket Reference
O'Reilly Pocket References are:
- concise (more abbreviated than an O'Reilly nutshell book)
- intended for quick reference
- intended for competent experienced users
Does the title fit the book?
Yes, it's a pocket reference alright. And it, for sure, focuses on Ruby.
About the Reviewer
A Minimalist
I'm a bit of a minimalist. So I especially like short.
Language Experience
I've made significant use of over 20 programming languages.
My favorite programming language is Perl and has been since 1994 when I was first exposed to it. I also like PHP and I'm beginning to like Ruby.
OS Experience
I've been using Unix/Linux since 1989. I've also used Mac OS X a little. I've used Windows some too but not recently.
Publisher Experience
I own a number of O'Reilly books. I like their books.
Review Experience
I've written lots of reviews including:
- reviews of 12 books on specific programming languages (6 Perl, 4 PHP, 2 Ruby)
- 4 O'Reilly Pocket References
Intent
My aim in getting this book was to:
- use it review Ruby
- to learn a few things I didn't know about Ruby
- to test this book as a Reference for Ruby
By the Numbers
By the numbers, what you get is:
- pages: 176
- preface: 1
- parts: 0
- chapters: 0
- sections: 31
- sections on particular classes: 5
- index: 1
Body
By body I mean the 31 sections. There are 148 pages in the body.
Sections
The average length of a section is less than 5 pages. The shortest section is less than 1 page long; the longest section is 22 pages long.
There are 19 tables and several lists of methods scattered through the sections. The lists of methods include around 300 method descriptions.
Likes
Clear Explanations
Generally I found the explanations in the book quite clear.
Cover
I like the cover. I especially like:
- that the giraffe's head pokes through the b in Ruby
- the relation to the cover of Learning Ruby
The cover of this pocket reference is similar to the cover of Learning Ruby. One important difference is that the baby giraffe is missing.
For Reviewing Ruby
I found this book a useful review of what I knew about Ruby.
I even learned a few things, especially in the area of what methods are available.
As a Reference
So far, this Pocket Reference has served me well as a reference.
I tested it by looking up 10 things of interest to me in the index and then reading the passage pointed to. The result was 10 useful passages in 10 tries.
Gripes
I don't find much to gripe about in this book, but I'll come up with something.
Not Always Clear
There were several places where I didn't understand the author's explanations. However, this book is a reference not a tutorial.
Who's the Book for?
For
This book would be best for someone who both:
- knows some Ruby
- wants a Ruby reference
If you also have "Learning Ruby" by the same author, that's even better.
Not For
This book would not be good for someone who has either of the following characteristics:
- really wants a tutorial
- is certain he/she has mastered Ruby and remembers everything
Final Thoughts
This is a concise quick reference for Ruby.
If you are a competent user of Ruby and you want a concise quick reference, I highly recommend this book.