Ruby Pocket Reference

Ruby Pocket Reference

by Michael Fitzgerald
Released July 2007
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9780596514815

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Book description

Although Ruby is an easy language to learn, in the heat of action you may find that you can't remember the correct syntax for a conditional or the name of a method. This handy pocket reference offers brief yet clear explanations of Ruby's core components, from operators to reserved words to data structures to method syntax, highlighting those key features that you'll likely use every day when coding Ruby.

Whether you've come to Ruby because of the Rails web development framework --Ruby's killer app -- or simply because it's a relatively clean, powerful and expressive language that's useful for a lot of applications, the Ruby Pocket Reference is organized to help you find what you need quickly. This book not only will get you up to speed on how Ruby works, it provides you with a handy reference you can use anywhere, anytime.

In this book, you find essential information on:

  • Reserved words, operators, comments, numbers, variables, ranges, and symbols
  • Predefined variables andglobal constants
  • Conditional statements, method use, classes, and modules (mixins)
  • Lists of methods from the Object, String, Array, and Hash classes and the Kernel module
  • sprintf andtime formatting directories
  • Interactive Ruby (irb) and the Ruby debugger
  • Ruby documentation
You also get information on the RubyGems package utility and Rake, a build tool similar to make.. If you're using Ruby daily and just want the facts-fast-Ruby Pocket Reference is your book.

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Table of contents

  1. Ruby Pocket Reference
  2. 1. Ruby Pocket Reference
    1. 1.1. Conventions Used in This Book
    2. 1.2. Comments and Questions
    3. 1.3. Acknowledgments
    4. 1.4. Running Ruby
      1. 1.4.1. Running the Ruby Interpreter
      2. 1.4.2. Using a Shebang Line on Unix/Linux
      3. 1.4.3. Associating File Types on Windows
    5. 1.5. Reserved Words
    6. 1.6. Operators
    7. 1.7. Comments
    8. 1.8. Numbers
    9. 1.9. Variables
      1. 1.9.1. Local Variables
      2. 1.9.2. Instance Variables
      3. 1.9.3. Class Variables
      4. 1.9.4. Global Variables
      5. 1.9.5. Constants
      6. 1.9.6. Parallel Assignment of Variables
    10. 1.10. Symbols
    11. 1.11. Predefined Variables
    12. 1.12. Pseudovariables
    13. 1.13. Global Constants
    14. 1.14. Ranges
    15. 1.15. Methods
      1. 1.15.1. Parentheses
      2. 1.15.2. Return Values
      3. 1.15.3. Method Name Conventions
      4. 1.15.4. Default Arguments
      5. 1.15.5. Variable Arguments
      6. 1.15.6. Aliasing Methods
      7. 1.15.7. Blocks
        1. 1.15.7.1. The yield statement
      8. 1.15.8. Procs
    16. 1.16. Conditional Statements
      1. 1.16.1. The if Statement
        1. 1.16.1.1. Negation
        2. 1.16.1.2. Multiple tests
        3. 1.16.1.3. Statement modifier for if
        4. 1.16.1.4. The else statement
        5. 1.16.1.5. The elsif statement
      2. 1.16.2. The unless Statement
        1. 1.16.2.1. Statement modifier for unless
      3. 1.16.3. The while Statement
        1. 1.16.3.1. Statement modifier for while
      4. 1.16.4. The until Statement
        1. 1.16.4.1. Statement modifier for until
      5. 1.16.5. The case Statement
      6. 1.16.6. The for Loop
      7. 1.16.7. The Ternary Operator
      8. 1.16.8. Executing Code Before or After a Program
    17. 1.17. Classes
      1. 1.17.1. Instance Variables
      2. 1.17.2. Accessors
      3. 1.17.3. Class Variables
      4. 1.17.4. Class Methods
      5. 1.17.5. Singletons
      6. 1.17.6. Inheritance
        1. 1.17.6.1. Load path
      7. 1.17.7. Public, Private, or Protected
      8. 1.17.8. Modules and Mixins
    18. 1.18. Files
      1. 1.18.1. Creating a New File
      2. 1.18.2. Opening an Existing File
      3. 1.18.3. ARGV and ARGF
      4. 1.18.4. Renaming and Deleting Files
      5. 1.18.5. File Inquiries
      6. 1.18.6. File Modes and Ownership
    19. 1.19. The IO Class
    20. 1.20. Exception Handling
      1. 1.20.1. The rescue and ensure Clauses
      2. 1.20.2. The raise Method
      3. 1.20.3. The catch and throw Methods
    21. 1.21. Object Class
      1. 1.21.1. Object Instance Methods
    22. 1.22. Kernel Module
      1. 1.22.1.
        1. 1.22.1.1. Sprintf flags and field types
    23. 1.23. String Class
      1. 1.23.1. Expression Substitution
      2. 1.23.2. General Delimited Strings
      3. 1.23.3. Here Documents
      4. 1.23.4. Escape Characters
      5. 1.23.5. Character Encoding
      6. 1.23.6. Regular Expressions
      7. 1.23.7. String Methods
        1. 1.23.7.1. String class methods
        2. 1.23.7.2. String instance methods
        3. 1.23.7.3. String unpack directives
    24. 1.24. Array Class
      1. 1.24.1. Creating Arrays
      2. 1.24.2. Array Class Methods
      3. 1.24.3. Array Instance Methods
        1. 1.24.3.1. Array pack directives
    25. 1.25. Hash Class
      1. 1.25.1. Creating Hashes
      2. 1.25.2. Hash Class Methods
      3. 1.25.3. Hash Instance Methods
    26. 1.26. Time Formatting Directives
    27. 1.27. Interactive Ruby (irb)
    28. 1.28. Ruby Debugger
    29. 1.29. Ruby Documentation
    30. 1.30. RDoc Options
    31. 1.31. RubyGems
    32. 1.32. Rake
    33. 1.33. Ruby Resources
    34. 1.34. Glossary
  3. About the Author
  4. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Ruby Pocket Reference
  • Author(s): Michael Fitzgerald
  • Release date: July 2007
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596514815