RubyCocoa Resources

Matz’s book on Ruby is a classic, and reading the first chapter will tell you a lot about why Ruby is such an enjoyable language to use. Matz has taken full responsibility for your success with his language, which he consciously designed as a “user interface” for programming a computer.

In the introduction, Matz tells us that he wrote this book so that you can easily find things “that you can’t be expected to remember”. Soon after, he describes himself as an “ordinary programmer”, but goes on to present extraordinarily clear examples of Ruby’s key features, and does it all with no cute drawings or cryptic inside jokes. Instead, it’s Ruby itself that makes this book worth reading, and it is all laid out in front of us to learn quickly.

I suppose it’s a sign that I’m an old programmer that I like Matz’s approach so much. Bigger books aren’t always better, as anyone who’s tried to work with Java knows well, and for me, writing a beautiful program is pleasure all in itself. At barely 200 pages, Matz’s book is light enough to go anywhere, but after going through it once, you may find that ri and rdoc are all that you need.

But read this book anyway to get to know Matz. Fewer people would complain about bad sofware if more of us software developers shared his attitudes. For more insight into Matz, see this 2000 article and 2003 interview.

If you’re an experienced programmer and want a quick introduction to Ruby, this book is a good place to start. But it’s past due for an update, and if you like more detailed discussions or need to know about something more advanced (like how to extend Ruby with C), get Programming Ruby. Better yet, get both. Used copies of this book are available online at prices so low, there’s no reason not to have it in your library.