Great book, read the first part to get a good comprehension of the basics of this great language

A must read for every Ruby programmer.

Excellent introduction to the Ruby programming language. Style is considerably more readable (an occasionally humorous) than the usual Tech book. Ruby is an object oriented, interpreted language.

"Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition by Dave Thomas (2004)"

Great intro and reference for Ruby.

This works well as a reference book, but it's not exactly beach reading. I like that most things are easy to look up and laid out in a manner where it's easy to skim for what you want.

A true "gem" of a language. This book is important because it kickstarted global awareness of a Japanese programming language towards a constantly growing legion of fans.

Would highly recommend starting off with this one + then getting "The Ruby Programming Language"

Read only Part 1 (Facets of Ruby) explaining Ruby 3.3 version of the languages. Rest of the part's are akin to reference than tutorial so can be skimmed through as needed. Overall I got what I needed for a gig.

Very nice introduction to a very cool programming language. I like the way the author's started out explaining the language from the point-of-view of describing a hypothetical project that they were going to implement in Ruby and stuck with that metaphor throughout the book (even in the more arcane 'Interfacing Ruby with C' sections). The last 200 pages or so is also essentially a very nice 'Ruby in a Nutshell' type reference so you get 2 books for the price of one: (a) A good tutorial on the Ruby language and (b) A nice reference to put beside your desk. Overall, a very readable book on Ruby.

Wonderfully written book that really serves its purpose. As a person who wanted a quick and painless introduction to a new programming language, I can say that this book didn't disappoint.

Most impressive part of the book is the complete list of classes and libraries that are included in the latest (right now it's Ruby 2.0) version of the language.

If you are an experienced programmer wanting to learn Ruby, this book is for you. A word of warning, though: go take a look at Chapter 27, Metaprogramming. That's the place where the object model of Ruby is explained. Without it, the rest of the book will seem to rely a bit too much on your faith. Unless, of course, you enjoy discovering the truth behind the magic for yourself. I'm sure it is possible and fun, but if you cannot spend the extra time, do take a peek at that chapter.

Another warning: the book (or at least it's ebook version) has quite a few typos, especially in Part 4.

Ok clearly its written for programmers at least know some other language. Book contains spot on reference and comparisons to other languages when introducing ruby features. Other than that its not a holy bible book as ruby community insist, if you are experienced I would consider Well Grounded Rubyist but this book has much better formed examples.