Skip to Content
Learn Ruby the Hard Way: A Simple and Idiomatic Introduction to the Imaginative World of Computational Thinking with Code, Third Edition
book

Learn Ruby the Hard Way: A Simple and Idiomatic Introduction to the Imaginative World of Computational Thinking with Code, Third Edition

by Zed A. Shaw
December 2014
Beginner
336 pages
7h 41m
English
Addison-Wesley Professional

Overview

YouWillLearn Ruby!

Zed Shaw has perfected the world’s best system for learning Ruby. Follow it and you will succeed–just like the hundreds of thousands of beginners Zed has taught to date! You bring the discipline, commitment, and persistence; the author supplies everything else.

In Learn Ruby the Hard Way, Third Edition, you’ll learn Ruby by working through 52 brilliantly crafted exercises. Read them. Type their code precisely. (No copying and pasting!) Fix your mistakes. Watch the programs run. As you do, you’ll learn how software works; what good programs look like; how to read, write, and think about code; and how to find and fix your mistakes using tricks professional programmers use. Most importantly, you’ll learn the following, which you need to start writing excellent Ruby software of your own:

• Installing your Ruby environment

• Organizing and writing code

• Ruby symbols and keywords

• Basic mathematics

• Variables and printing

• Strings and text

• Interacting with users

• Working with files

• Using and creating functions

• Looping and logic

• Arrays and elements

• Hashmaps

• Program design

• Object-oriented programming

• Inheritance and composition

• Modules, classes, and objects

• Project “skeleton” directories

• Debugging and automated testing

• Advanced user input

• Text processing

• Basic game development

• Basic web development

It’ll Be Hard At First. But Soon, You’ll Just Get It–And That Will Feel Great!

This tutorial will reward you for every minute you put into it. Soon, you’ll know one of the world’s most powerful, popular programming languages. You’ll be a Ruby programmer.

Watch Zed, too!The accompanying DVD contains 5+ hours of passionate,powerful teaching: a complete Ruby video course!

Zed Shaw is an avid guitar player, programmer, and writer whose books teach people all over the world how to write software. His book Learn Python the Hard Way has been read by millions of people around the world. His software has been used by many large and small companies. His essays are often quoted and read by members of many geek communities. He is an entertaining and lively writer, who is sure to keep you laughing and make you think.

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

The Ruby Way: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming, Third Edition

The Ruby Way: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming, Third Edition

Hal Fulton, André Arko
The Ruby Programming Language

The Ruby Programming Language

David Flanagan, Yukihiro Matsumoto

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780133135633Purchase book