As you
may have
noticed, I spend my mornings and evenings going to and from work on a train. I usually use this time to read, unless I have a pounding headache in which case I stare out into space until I hear the call for my stop. Anywho, I recently finished
Everyday Scripting with Ruby: For Teams, Testers, and You
by
Brian Marick.
A while back when I was learning about
Ruby on Rails Migrations I got a chance to learn a bit of Ruby. This was mostly due to the fact that the SQL Server adapters for Rails Migrations wasn't exactly up to snuff, and in order to get a proof of concept going
Aaron and I needed to
write some Ruby code. The experience gave me a pretty good understanding of Ruby as a language.
Fast forward a year, and all the sudden there I am forgetting everything that I learned. That is...until Everyday Scripting with Ruby. Brian has put together a really nice introduction to the Ruby language that should be approachable for programmers, testers, and anyone else who likes to dabble in scripting. I don't think I fit exactly within the target audience, but I still found the book a worthwhile read and would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn Ruby. Along with
Programming Ruby you should have all you need to master the Ruby language. Brian does a good job introducing the Ruby language, as well as offering valuable insight into his world and how he goes about writing scripts.
In summary,
Everyday Scripting with Ruby is a great edition to your bookshelf if your interested in learning Ruby. Those with many years of experience in the industry will likely find parts of it "skippable" or "skimmable", but no matter how much experience you have your bound to find a couple nuggets of wisdom that make it worth the twenty (or so) bucks you'll plop down for it.
I'm not sure what's up next but I just made a mass purchase of books from Amazon. One of the following will make it into my work "briefcase" shortly.
Anyone care to guess what I've decided about
the right time for a new technology? :)