A Framework for Understanding Poverty

Average customer rating:

Excellent tool for educators

Everyone should read this book

Beware Ruby Payne

A must read for any type of educator/counselor

Classist drivel
A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Ruby K. Payne
Manufacturer: aha Process, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poverty | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Understanding Learning: the How, the Why, the What

Working With Parents

Discipline Strategies for the Classroom; Working with Students

Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities

ASIN: 1929229488
Release Date: 2005-05-15

Product Description

Fourth Revised Edition. People in poverty face challenges virtually unknown to those in middle class or wealth--challenges from both obvious and hidden sources. The reality of being poor brings out a survival mentality, and turns attention away from opportunities taken for granted by everyone else. If you work with people from poverty, some understanding of how different their world is from yours will be invaluable. Whether you're an educator--or a social, health, or legal services professional--this breakthrough book gives you practical, real-world support and guidance to improve your effectiveness in working with people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Since 1995 A Framework for Understanding Poverty has guided hundreds of thousands of educators and other professionals through the pitfalls and barriers faced by all classes, especially the poor. Carefully researched and packed with charts, tables, and questionaires, Framework not only documents the facts of poverty, it provides practical yet compassionate strategies for addressing its impact on people's lives.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent tool for educators.......2007-10-03

I just went to a one-day workshop on Ruby Payne's book and found it to be extremely valuable. I teach in a school of 2500 students, 30% of whom live in poverty. This book was an excellent tool to teach the concept that students living in poverty (especially generational poverty) often live by a different "code" than the middle class. With that said, our public educational system is largely based on the middle class code, which these students may have a hard time fitting into. Payne gives a great overview of the issues that impoverished students MAY be facing, and I don't think her work can be taken as an "all or nothing" view. Obviously, not every person reacts that same way to any given situation. However, Payne's information opened my eyes to the disparities in my classroom, and gave me a great deal of insight into students' behaviors.
This book does not perpetuate poverty--it gives educators invaluable tools to reach out to and engage our students who are living with the realities of poverty every day.

Everyone should read this book.......2007-09-23

This book is almost a workbook. It presents the culture of poverty in a way that is easy to understand and helpful to all. This should be required reading for teachers.

Beware Ruby Payne.......2007-09-18

This book perpetuates the institutionalized racism and classism that creates students who are unsuccessful in schools. Payne, whose "research" is anecdotal at best, completely unverified at worst, suggests that teachers teach to poverty, instead of fighting the social injustices that cause it. She works from the deficit theory of poverty, which has been widely discredited since the 60s, and her anecdotal examples are racist stereotypes.

This book makes white, middle-class teachers think they understand poverty, when in reality, the advice she gives teachers perpetuates poverty and does nothing to address the complex causes of it. Ruby Payne is laughing all the way to the bank.

A must read for any type of educator/counselor.......2007-09-12

This book presents a comprehensive view of the way people in different areas of society think; what things are important to them, where their priorities lie. It has tools for working within the area the student or client lives and ways to facilitate movement from one area to the next.

Classist drivel.......2007-08-28

I honestly can't believe that school districts pay a great deal of money for Ruby Payne's books and programs. While they may have slick packaging, scratch the surface and you will find damaging anecdotes that stereotype those living in poverty. Under the guise of helping to understand and improve the lives of these individuals, it serves to portray them as coming from a culture that is deficient and must be fixed to fit "our" mold. In addition, it proposes that there is a "culture of poverty". This theory has been disproved.

Save your money. Or, better, yet, by something by Jonathan Kozol.

BTW, there's a reason she self-publishes...

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition

Average customer rating:

Good, but far from perfect.
Not for a Java programmer
Great book!
A classic, a must-have for anyone learning Ruby
You must have one

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition
Dave Thomas , Chad Fowler , and Andy Hunt
Manufacturer: Pragmatic Bookshelf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

ASIN: 0974514055

Book Description

Ruby is an increasingly popular, fully object-oriented dynamic programming language, hailed by many practitioners as the finest and most useful language available today. When Ruby first burst onto the scene in the Western world, the Pragmatic Programmers were there with the definitive reference manual, Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide.

Now in its second edition, author Dave Thomas has expanded the famous Pickaxe book with over 200 pages of new content, covering all the improved language features of Ruby 1.8 and standard library modules. The Pickaxe contains four major sections:

An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby.
The definitive reference to the language.
Complete documentation on all built-in classes, modules, and methods
Complete descriptions of all 98 standard libraries.

If you enjoyed the First Edition, you'll appreciate the expanded content, including enhanced coverage of installation, packaging, documenting Ruby source code, threading and synchronization, and enhancing Ruby's capabilities using C-language extensions. Programming for the World Wide Web is easy in Ruby, with new chapters on XML/RPC, SOAP, distributed Ruby, templating systems, and other web services. There's even a new chapter on unit testing.

This is the definitive reference manual for Ruby, including a description of all the standard library modules, a complete reference to all built-in classes and modules (including more than 250 significant changes since the First Edition). Coverage of other features has grown tremendously, including details on how to harness the sophisticated capabilities of irb, so you can dynamically examine and experiment with your running code. "Ruby is a wonderfully powerful and useful language, and whenever I'm working with it this book is at my side" --Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks

Customer Reviews:

Good, but far from perfect........2007-08-27

This book is a great reference, but the tutorial is somewhat confusing. This has two main reasons:

1. Ruby itself is a somewhat confusing language. Really. Don't believe all the hype surrounding it. I'm not saying it isn't good, but it uses lots of concepts which aren't that common in other languages and the syntax is unnecessarily bizarre sometimes. Python has everything Ruby has, but it's *always* legible, clean and - let's face it - beautiful.

2. The top-down approach of the tutorial isn't efficient if you've never programmed before. I have a good deal of experience with other languages, so it was quite straightforward to me, but if that wasn't the case - and this book is also targeted at the newbie audience - I'd probably be lost sometimes.

That said, this is still THE book to get if you're interested in learning Ruby, at least until someone writes a better one.

Not for a Java programmer.......2007-07-26

Information is set in a haphazard manner. Cannot get a clear picture of how a Ruby program is structured.For ex: Chapter 4 is on "Containers, Blocks, and Iterators". Chapter 7 "Expressions" again has different information on Loops, Iterators, For ... In, Variable Scope, Loops, and Blocks etc.

Great book!.......2007-07-24

I decided to learn Ruby on my own and I'm glad I picked this book. It's very easy to follow and the instructions were very concise. If you're new to programming like myself, this book will be a great help in getting your feet wet.

A classic, a must-have for anyone learning Ruby.......2007-06-27

This is the book which made Ruby popular in America. I like the way they start out talking about blocks and closures early in the book. As the book notes a reviewer said about blocks "This is important!"

You must have one.......2007-06-21

Dave Thomas is surely one of the best writers I've ever seen. He doesn't treat you like an idiot, so it's perfect for experienced programmers to learn very fast many aspects of the Ruby language.

Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition

Average customer rating:

Clear as water
Agile Web Development
Beyond great: best book, best reference, best index (and funny)
Great new edition of a fine book
Excellent, Thorough and Easy

Agile Web Development with Rails, 2nd Edition
Dave Thomas , David Hansson , Leon Breedt , Mike Clark , James Duncan Davidson , Justin Gehtland , and Andreas Schwarz
Manufacturer: Pragmatic Bookshelf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0977616630

Book Description

The definitive, Jolt-award winning guide to learning and using Rails is now in its Second Edition. Rails is a new approach to web-based application development that enables developers to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications using less code and less effort. Now programmers can get the job done right and still leave work on time.

NEW IN THE SECOND EDITION: The book has been updated to take advantage of all the new Rails 1.2 features. The sample application uses migrations, Ajax, features a REST interface, and illustrates new Rails features. There are new chapters on migrations, active support, active record, and action controller (including the new resources-based routing). The Web 2.0 and Deployment chapters have been completely rewritten to reflect the latest thinking. Now you can learn which environments are best for your style application, and see how Capistrano makes managing your site simple. All the remaining chapters have been extensively updated. Finally, hundreds of comments from readers of the first edition have been incorporated, making this book simply the best available.

Rails is a full-stack, open source web framework that enables you to create full-featured, sophisticated web-based applications with a twist...you can create a full Rails application using less code than the setup XML you'd need just to configure some other frameworks.

With this book, you'll learn how to use Rails Active Record to connect business objects and database tables. No more painful object-relational mapping. Just create your business objects and let Rails do the rest. You'll learn how to use the Action Pack framework to route incoming requests and render pages using easy-to-write templates and components. See how to exploit the Rails service frameworks to send emails, talk to web services, and interact dynamically with JavaScript applications running in the browser (the "Ajax" architecture).

You'll see how easy it is to deploy Rails. You'll be writing applications that work with your favorite database (MySQL, Oracle, Postgres, and more) in no time at all.

Customer Reviews:

Clear as water.......2007-09-27

This book is a really good inversion if you plan to start you "RoR" experience, the way the book is written is very clear and in a good order, so you can understand better what's going on as you go along.

Great book!

Agile Web Development.......2007-09-27

Great book to start off with. Has a good tutorial on building a shopping cart application. Then one can learn from that to develop a application that is unique for their business.

Beyond great: best book, best reference, best index (and funny).......2007-09-19

I am an oldster (you know, 40+) and have learned many a language. Kernigan and Ritchie wrote their "K & R" C-language book in some written language a little higher level than English. After 40 or 50 reads through, I got it. I read C++ books, SmallTalk, Delphi, Visual Basic, and many Java books, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, Awk, Emacs, REXX (!!), and just about everything O'Reily has ever published.

Now, I come to Ruby, and Ruby on Rails. Thank goodness for this book. What a relief to read a book that is 1) comprehensive, 2) practical, 3) accurate, 4) funny at times, and 5) above all, has a good index! Perhaps programming languages are (finally) getting easier to write about, but Dave Thomas is an outstanding technical writer: he knows his audience and writes for us. Look, I know a million programming languages, but I am not the kind of person who zips through a book and suddenly gets it. Most books are written by people who are experts in the nuances, but have forgotten the many steps that lead up to those nuances.

AWDWR is better. It starts with a non-trivial and complete tutorial -- the first half of the book is an application that manages to hit most of the critical aspects of actually doing the job. It is a reasonably broad application covering many points of real webapps. (I read through thinking, yeah, we managed to deal with that in our Java webapp in a month, and here it is, built in to Rails, and better ... more than once). Maybe it is Rails, which seems to be a significant step in maturity over current generations (my last was WebWork/Struts 2, which seems to be the best you can do with Java these days, but really only one part of the larger problem).

But I have to give great respect to Dave Thomas and the other great writers who all made this second edition book a great, great book. I could follow along when reading, I actually did the whole tutorial and found myself learning almost all the way through typing the examples in by hand (mostly by learning how to debug my typos and understanding how the language and framework responded). Now that we're writing our real software, we still look back at the tutorial to get a clear view of how all the parts fit together.

The second part of the book is a solid documentation of the components and APIs available. It is not complete, but nor should it be -- if you want the API, link to the Rails site API. It does cover the important points, however, and ties them back to the tutorial where appropriate. Various important aspects are covered in enough detail to get the idea across, but not so much as to be just a lexicon.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. If this is your first programming book, it will be a struggle, but less than most, and if you're a professional software engineer with one or two languages under your belt (and reasonable proficiency at the command line), you will find this a great reference for learning, and for doing.

Great new edition of a fine book.......2007-09-06

If you have the first edition of this book, you REALLY need to get this edition, since some of the recommended ways to do things have changed. Even some of the ways to get the first sample applications up and running have changed a bit. To be sure, the changes are for the better. The first edition of this book helped me to get my first Ruby on Rails app up and running and this one makes it easier.

Excellent, Thorough and Easy.......2007-08-23

This book, for me, was fantastic! Real world examples for the win! I am still not finished with this book, only half-way through it but, I have to say I have never been as excited about a book than I am about this one.

The very beginning chapters get a functional website application up and running called Depot (an on line book store) and they do this in such a way that you don't have to know the Ruby language (no, it's not scaffolding). As long as you can understand how gears work and fit together and that one turns clockwise and another turns counter clockwise, I don't think you'll have a problem.

With that being said, without knowing Ruby, you may be able to get by on making your own application from scratch but, it will be very rough. The purpose of this book is to teach you about Rails, not Ruby.

My recommendation is, read this book first, before a Ruby book. That way, seeing the Ruby code will be much easier to take in after you see how it works in Rails and to syntax used. Do NOT skimp on learning Ruby after you read this book! You will be sorry! There are TONS more to learn just by learning the language itself. There is more than one way to skin a cat and by learning the rest of the language, you will be more empowered to figure out problems on your own.

The only problem I had with this book was that, in the middle of chapter 5, it skipped back to chapter 3 and finished out chapter 5, chapter 6 and half of chapter 7 was missing. This is the printer's fault, not Amazon's or Pragmatic Programmer's fault. If you happen to get a messed up book, don't contact Amazon, it takes forever. Instead, I contacted Pragmatic Programmer via email and let them know of the situation and to my surprise, they sent me a brand new book still in plastic, priority mail which took about 2 days to get to me! I was just expecting maybe the missing chapters in PDF format but, this shows a lot of character on the part of the company (Pragmatic Programmers). My email was responded to in less than 45 seconds after I hit the "send" button. I would like to offer much praise to the company for this!

If you are a PHP developer, there is another framework that has been modeled after Ruby on Rails called CakePHP. It is fairly new and under heavy development but, the basic principals are the same. The only reason I am plugging them here is, without having learned this framework, I don't think I would have thought about looking at Ruby on Rails. For a super quick breakdown of how MVC pattern works. Be aware that Ruby on Rails is much easier. I think this is due to the nature of PHP and not the framework itself. The devs try their hardest to make it easy for you.

I guess I don't have anything else to say about this except, if you do buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

Average customer rating:

Geeked Out on Powershell
Clearly a Winner
PAGE 205 ... PAGE 205
Don't Make This Your First Purchase
Everything you ever wanted to know about PowerShell

Windows PowerShell in Action
Bruce Payette
Manufacturer: Manning Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Programming | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1932394907

Book Description

PowerShell replaces cobbled-together assemblies of third-party management tools with an elegant programming language and a powerful scripting shell for the Windows environment. In the tradition of Manning's ground breaking "In Action" series, this book comes from right from the source. Written by Bruce Payette, one of principal creators of PowerShell, Windows PowerShell in Action shows you how to build scripts and utilities to automate system tasks or create powerful system management tools to handle the day-to-day tasks that drive a Windows administrator's life. Because it's based on the .NET platform, PowerShell is also a powerful tool for developers and power users.

Windows PowerShell in Action was written by Bruce Payette, one of the founding members of the Windows PowerShell team, co-designer of the PowerShell language and the principal author of the PowerShell language implementation. The book enables you to get the most out of the PowerShell environment. Using many examples, both small and large, this book illustrates the features of the language and environment and shows how to compose those features into solutions, quickly and effectively.

This book is designed for anyone who wants to learn PowerShell and use it well. Rather than simply being a book of recipes to read and apply, this book gives you the deep knowledge about how PowerShell works and how to apply it.

Customer Reviews:

Geeked Out on Powershell.......2007-08-06

As a both a Windows and Linux system administrator, this book overall made me frustrated initially, as I really don't want to delve into the introspective nature of compiler design miracles, but rather have a practical book on applying PowerShell. Nevertheless, once I sat down and reviewed key chapters, I was able to learn how to better utilize Powershell and apply it to some chores relating to the nature of system administration.

One of the things I high agree with another reviewer is that the book does indeed delve too much into the "gears and cogs" of Powershell, and many times too much. Sometimes we delve into how behind the scenes, the language takes measures to behave like any other language or shell, and we're scratching our heads, why did I have to understand what I always knew to work and behave. Good example is page 62 on string expansion, where once something is assigned is doesn't changed when accessed. Like that's how everything is suppose to work. Though, then he mentions how to override the behavior, but never drops any code examples for that side note.

Though this book seems more oriented to software developers, rather than system administrators, I would still recommend this book, as you can become really well versed in the Powershell and understand its advantages as it relates to the .NET platform on the recent Windows OSes.

Clearly a Winner.......2007-08-06

Not only does this teach you powershell, it answers all kinds of questions about why Powershell is the way it is, and why certain decisions were made. Ever want to know why we use -eq instead of == ? The answer is in here. This books simply rocks. This book not only shows you how to use Powershell, it teaches you Powershell works, from the inside out. Completely worthwhile. I would highly suggest reading it multiple times, as you learn more and more each time through.

PAGE 205 ... PAGE 205.......2007-07-28

This book gives you the goods and helps you become very productive very fast. As a service ... I'm pointing out that PowerShell is installed in a somewhat crippled state which allows for interactive scripting only. You know, security, security, security.

Most of us, of course want to put the script into a file and execute it and this won't work until you set an 'execution policy'. This information can be found starting on page 205 and further directions on page 451.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Besides that a very good book that stands on it's own. If you've been around the programming track a couple of times you won't need the 'for the absolute beginner' book ... this one will do the trick!

I wish all technical books were written this well.

Don't Make This Your First Purchase.......2007-07-09

Consider this book the Definitive Reference for PowerShell. Written by one of the designers of the PowerShell environment, the author knows all the ins and outs, back-alleys, hidden rooms, and secret handshakes the language offers - and isn't afraid to grab you by the hand and drag you along (like it or not!) for the tour of your life.

Therein, however, is the reason I can't recommend this as your first PowerShell book. The book is very logically planned out, the information very well presented in relatively easy to understand language, there is an abundance of script snippets to demonstrate what is being talked about, and the writing style itself is entertaining to read. But the author knows too much on the subject, and like any proud parent, often "too much information" is given, delving too deep into the gears and cogs of PowerShell and the underlying .NET framework for the (often basic) building block component, which might overwhelm the new PowerShell user, especially if the user does not have programming, let alone scripting, experience.

So although I say don't make this your first purchase, make it your second - and probably your last. Start with an "Introduction" style book (like Microsoft Windows Powershell Programming for the Absolute Beginner) to get used to the complex environment (even if you've only had VBS/JS experience), get comfortable with the basics of the shell, then move up to this title. You'll soon find out that every aspect you thought you knew has much more to the story than you thought, and you'll walk away from this read able to do just about everything you want.

Everything you ever wanted to know about PowerShell.......2007-05-12

I don't ever remember reading a computer book from cover to cover, but I got hooked on this book and "can't put it down"... Plus, who ever thought that the history of a program could be as interesting as this one is. After all, the book begins by asking "why another shell language?" By the time you are into a few chapters you realize the question should have been "what took you so long?"

The book is peppered with valuable code examples that show off everything from the basics to the most advanced concepts, and the examples are built incrementally so you can see how and why every character in a command line works. Since PowerShell is object oriented, you easily learn why this is important, and how to extract the power of an OO shell.

I've already put PowerShell to work at the office using it for WMI, Active Directory, and file management tasks and have incorporated it into my AutoIT scripts as well. This book was a great help in getting me up to speed as fast as I have.

Average customer rating:

More than expected.
Best Regex material I've ever read
VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Good Information
The ultimate book for the ultimate demands - For an introduction just too heavy weight

Mastering Regular Expressions
Jeffrey Friedl
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596528124

Amazon.com

Regular expressions are a central element of UNIX utilities like egrep and programming languages such as Perl. But whether you're a UNIX user or not, you can benefit from a better understanding of regular expressions since they work with applications ranging from validating data-entry fields to manipulating information in multimegabyte text files. Mastering Regular Expressions quickly covers the basics of regular-expression syntax, then delves into the mechanics of expression-processing, common pitfalls, performance issues, and implementation-specific differences. Written in an engaging style and sprinkled with solutions to complex real-world problems, Mastering Regular Expressions offers a wealth information that you can put to immediate use.

Book Description

Regular expressions are an extremely powerful tool for manipulating text and data. They are now standard features in a wide range of languages and popular tools, including Perl, Python, Ruby, Java, VB.NET and C# (and any language using the .NET Framework), PHP, and MySQL.

If you don't use regular expressions yet, you will discover in this book a whole new world of mastery over your data. If you already use them, you'll appreciate this book's unprecedented detail and breadth of coverage. If you think you know all you need to know about regular expressions, this book is a stunning eye-opener.

As this book shows, a command of regular expressions is an invaluable skill. Regular expressions allow you to code complex and subtle text processing that you never imagined could be automated. Regular expressions can save you time and aggravation. They can be used to craft elegant solutions to a wide range of problems. Once you've mastered regular expressions, they'll become an invaluable part of your toolkit. You will wonder how you ever got by without them.

Yet despite their wide availability, flexibility, and unparalleled power, regular expressions are frequently underutilized. Yet what is power in the hands of an expert can be fraught with peril for the unwary. Mastering Regular Expressions will help you navigate the minefield to becoming an expert and help you optimize your use of regular expressions.

Mastering Regular Expressions, Third Edition, now includes a full chapter devoted to PHP and its powerful and expressive suite of regular expression functions, in addition to enhanced PHP coverage in the central "core" chapters. Furthermore, this edition has been updated throughout to reflect advances in other languages, including expanded in-depth coverage of Sun's java.util.regex package, which has emerged as the standard Java regex implementation. Topics include:

A comparison of features among different versions of many languages and tools
How the regular expression engine works
Optimization (major savings available here!)
Matching just what you want, but not what you don't want
Sections and chapters on individual languages

Written in the lucid, entertaining tone that makes a complex, dry topic become crystal-clear to programmers, and sprinkled with solutions to complex real-world problems, Mastering Regular Expressions, Third Edition offers a wealth information that you can put to immediate use.

Reviews of this new edition and the second edition:

"There isn't a better (or more useful) book available on regular expressions."
--Zak Greant, Managing Director, eZ Systems

"A real tour-de-force of a book which not only covers the mechanics of regexes in extraordinary detail but also talks about efficiency and the use of regexes in Perl, Java, and .NET...If you use regular expressions as part of your professional work (even if you already have a good book on whatever language you're programming in) I would strongly recommend this book to you."
--Dr. Chris Brown, Linux Format

"The author does an outstanding job leading the reader from regex novice to master. The book is extremely easy to read and chock full of useful and relevant examples...Regular expressions are valuable tools that every developer should have in their toolbox. Mastering Regular Expressions is the definitive guide to the subject, and an outstanding resource that belongs on every programmer's bookshelf. Ten out of Ten Horseshoes."
--Jason Menard, Java Ranch

Customer Reviews:

More than expected........2007-08-24

I have been in computer software developer over 7 years now and never really used regular expression until a year ago. True, you can live without it. But, with regular expression at hand, you climb up another level of programming. Code will be much concise and code research will be like a breeze.

Anyway, I didn't read this book entirely since later chapters explain intricacies and subtle differences of each specific language, e.g., java, perl, php, etc. It didn't take long to apply the knowledge I gained to real work and benefit. By the time I completed the first chapter, I already started to get rewards. My life is a lot easier now.

Even with only the first 3 chapters, this book is well worth its price. The author did superb job explaining what's going on behind the scene and guide you through the right way of constructing regular expressions for various situations. Of course, he will show you common pitfalls to avoid, too. Very detailed and comprehensive.

Highly recommended.

Best Regex material I've ever read.......2007-08-16

Before reading this book, I would have considered myself an intermediate regexer. After the first 2 chapters, I realized how novice I really was. Having only made it through 5 chapters of this book, I can't say enough about it. The detail and step-by-step analysis that Mr. Friedl takes to describe the regex matching process is the best I've ever seen. It's little things that make the analysis easy to follow -- like the brackets he uses to mark the regex, and the small triangle cursor to show where the engine is in the matching process. I continue to look forward to each new chapter. Thank you for a wonderful work of art.

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!.......2007-05-23

Are you a programmer working on text-related tasks? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Jeffrey Friedl, has done an outstanding job of writing a cool book that will interest anyone who has an opportunity to use regular expressions.

Friedl, begin with an introduction to the concept of regular expressions. Then, the author takes a look at text processing with regular expressions. Next, the author provides an overview of features and utilities, plus a bit of history. He also explains the details of how regular expressions work. The author continues by working through regular expressions examples. Then, he discusses efficiency in detail. Next, the author covers Perl regular expressions in detail. He then looks at Sun's java.util.regex package. The author continues by looking at .NET's language-neutral regular-expression package. Finally, the author looks at PHP's preg suite of regex functions.

This most excellent book should expand your understanding, even if you consider yourself an accomplished regular-expression expert. Perhaps more importantly, the book concentrates on mastering a particular implementation!

Good Information.......2007-05-07

Many people only barely utilize regular experssions, having been unable to get more than basic expressions to work. There are a lot of reasons for this - shell escapes, man pages that are terse to the point of being cryptic, etc. This book is a clear and very readable trip through practical regular expression creation and application that will enable the reader to get the most out of grep, awk, perl and other programs that use regular expressions.

The ultimate book for the ultimate demands - For an introduction just too heavy weight.......2007-05-03

Jeffrey Friedl describes regular expressions at an amazing depth and precision. Regular expressions are not easy and the quirks of the different tools (including their exact version and for what operating system) make writing them to an irritating black art. A black art to almost anybody. MRE sorts everything out in a comprehensible fashion. The price the reader has to pay: a very dense book, a need to follow the details until your head starts swimming and a lot of strain on the memory about what works, how and where.

MRE is somewhat easier to comprehend for a reader with a strong Pearl background. Also a good prior understanding to regular expressions is a true asset here. If you have neither, you do not need to despair. Jeffrey Friedl explains everything thoroughly from the ground up.

The writing style is very pedagogical. Important things get repeated quite often. Still this book is very dense. The flow is dry: no rhythm, special sense of humor or wit sweetens your wading through the material. Nevertheless Jeffrey Friedl kept my interest through the pages though the reading felt like hard work.

I do recommend this book to the truly dedicated reader.

Average customer rating:

Eminently Browsable
Great Reference
For impatient types
Great recipes
If you are anywhere near ruby coding, you need this by your side...

Ruby Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))
Lucas Carlson , and Leonard Richardson
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596523696

Book Description

Do you want to push Ruby to its limits? The Ruby Cookbook is the most comprehensive problem-solving guide to today's hottest programming language. It gives you hundreds of solutions to real-world problems, with clear explanations and thousands of lines of code you can use in your own projects.

From data structures and algorithms, to integration with cutting-edge technologies, the Ruby Cookbook has something for every programmer. Beginners and advanced Rubyists alike will learn how to program with:

Strings and numbers
Arrays and hashes
Classes, modules, and namespaces
Reflection and metaprogramming
XML and HTML processing
Ruby on Rails (including Ajax integration)
Databases
Graphics
Internet services like email, SSH, and BitTorrent
Web services
Multitasking
Graphical and terminal interfaces

If you need to write a web application, this book shows you how to get started with Rails. If you're a system administrator who needs to rename thousands of files, you'll see how to use Ruby for this and other everyday tasks. You'll learn how to read and write Excel spreadsheets, classify text with Bayesian filters, and create PDF files. We've even included a few silly tricks that were too cool to leave out, like how to blink the lights on your keyboard.

The Ruby Cookbook is the most useful book yet written about Ruby. When you need to solve a problem, don't reinvent the wheel: look it up in the Cookbook.

Customer Reviews:

Eminently Browsable.......2007-07-24

A practical Ruby book with concrete examples. This is not an introduction to Ruby, but it is accessible to someone who has learned the basics. It consists of a series of examples, mostly about two pages long including both code and discussion. Its table of contents is organized by solution--so regular expressions are explained in section titled, "Getting the Parts of the String You Want." Thus it is eminently browsable, allowing you to easily find the pages you need right now.

Great Reference.......2007-07-18

I've had both good and bad experiences with O'Rielly books, but this one is absolutely good. It works as a great reference book for me. I've picked up so much just from looking at how parts of the recopies are done.

I rated it with four stars because this always room to improve, no book is perfect, but this one comes close.

For impatient types.......2007-07-16

As others already said, this book is all about immediate, hands-on learning experience with some real, live and working code, delivered by *you* quickly. This book by itself may not be enough to gain a deeper understanding of Ruby, and its philosophical background, but should be certainly enough to get you going with a new language, and get a "feel" for it: not only it covers the language (more or less), and the standard library, but it also offers you a quick "preview" of some most popular 3rd party libraries. Just keep in mind that there are many others, and sometiems I disagree with author's selections of what to include. (ImageMagic is one, for example)

Personally, for almost everything I learn, I prefer to have two kinds of manuals: a) deep and concise, and b) quick&dirty. This one fits the second role just perfectly, therefore I recommend it.

For more depth, go ang get "Programming Ruby" as well.

Great recipes.......2007-05-30

If you are a learning-by-doing type of guy then reading this book is probably the best way to boost your Ruby skills.
There are a lot of useful recipes, especially on Web stuff.
Nevertheless, I'll give it only 4 Stars because it's lacking some basic info on Ruby syntax that I had to find on my own searching the internet. For someone who is new to Ruby this certainly is a drawback.

If you are anywhere near ruby coding, you need this by your side..........2007-04-23

Having gone through several O'reilly cookbooks, I just went to the store and picked this book even before reading a single review. If you're into hands-on coding, the cookbook series takes you direct into a pool of codes to swim in - you're gonna love it! Each page has valuable code snippets that can help you through your everyday coding tasks. This book is a must have for any Ruby programmer, right next to his desk.

The recipes or code examples are written in a very intelligent manner, not only to learn, but also to appreciate Ruby as a language.

Most of the people I have met who are into Ruby, they come from a Perl, C, Python, Java or other programming background. So this book perfectly addresses those folks. If you're new to programming, I would suggest you pick some other book.

Average customer rating:

Top-notch tome
Excellent
Basic libraries coverage with a good example application.

Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action
Dave Crane , Bear Bibeault , and Tom Locke
Manufacturer: Manning Publications
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 1933988037

Book Description

Prototype and Scriptaculous are libraries that extend standard Ajax. They make it easier to program Ajax and provide powerful features like drag and drop and animation. In this book, developers learn by playing and see how the libraries work in the real world.

As experience with Ajax increases, developers want the standard Ajax capabilities they repeatedly use to be preprogrammed for them--and that's exactly what Ajax libraries do for them. They reduce the pain of handling cross-browser inconsistencies, they add useful language features, and provide sophisticated functionality. Of these, Prototype is the most popular JavaScript and Ajax framework for low-level user interface features such as animation, drag and drop, and pre-built widgets. Together, they free the developer up to concentrate on building the application. They make a rich user experience easy to achieve.

This book guides the reader through the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries feature-by-feature. In just 350 pages, readers will find over 100 small working examples to help them explore the libraries. As well, they will develop a web-based image gallery that teacher them how to use Prototype and Scriptaculous in the real-world.

Customer Reviews:

Top-notch tome.......2007-06-25

Javascript has exploded onto the web development scene in the last few years, and powers much of the web 2.0 and Ajax revolution. Every web developer now needs to know how to do common Ajax tasks. Thankfully, Prototype and Scriptaculous In Action makes it both easy and enjoyable.

This is a comprehensive book. The size (510 pages) was initially intimidating, but Prototype and Scriptaculous In Action is exceedingly well written and a genuine pleasure to read. The thorough and thoughtful organization of the book provides some real structure to the discussion, making complex subjects easily digestible. This is the defacto bible of Prototype and Scriptaculous, and these days I turn to this book more than anything else on my shelf.

The book is divided up into four multi-chapter parts, any of which could stand on it's own as a definitive guide. The chapters are full of useful examples, and there's strong emphasis given to migrating existing sites to Prototype and Scriptaculous, which is a major plus. You could turn to any section of the book and immediately see how to inject some new behavior into your existing application, but if you take the time to read from cover-to-cover you'll be rewarded with some deep understanding of both the libraries and Javascript itself.

I'll summarize the four parts of the book:

Part 1, Getting Started, introduces the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries, focusing heavily on Prototype and Ajax. There's a lot of information on re-designing an existing site for Ajax. Two full chapters are devoted to Prototype's Ajax features. You can get up and running VERY quickly after glancing through these chapters. There's also a lot of depth, and consideration is given to the pervasive effects Ajax has on architectural issues and the new ways that an application will have to manage HTTP traffic.

Part 2, Scriptaculous Quickly, covers effects, controls and drag-n-drop. This is hands-down the best Scriptaculous documentation currently available, anywhere. The core effects are explored and tweaked, and there's lot of very practical examples demonstrating some of the niftiest stuff, like running effects in parallel versus sequentially. And the drag-and-drop coverage is incredibly clear, making it easy, almost trivial, to implement. The Scriptaculous coverage is indispensable, and you'll return to it again and again if you implement Scriptaculous-enabled pages.

Part 3, Prototype in Depth, explores Prototype's Javascript-oriented features. There's a fantastic chapter on functions contexts, and the discussion of closures is one of the best I've seen. There's a lot of information about Javascript fundamentals, and how Prototype can be used to implement inheritance, address arrays, and manipulate the DOM in the browser.

And finally, Part 4 Advanced Topics, has two unrelated chapters. The first chapter overhauls an example app, giving it a Prototype and Scriptaculous makeover. The last chapter is about integration with Ruby on Rails. Prototype was initially written as the Ajax interface to Rails, so there's some strong integration.

As a long-time enterprise web developer, dealing with Javascript has always been a chore. But now I actually (gasp) look forward to tasks that involve Javascript. I'm a convert, and I have Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action to thank.

Excellent.......2007-05-22

I wrote a longer review that Amazon has apparently lost. Oh well. This is an excellent book, very well written. The authors are the rarest kind of technical author: they can actually construct prose that is pleasant to read, not deadly boring, but which works well as a reference book later. The book's organized thoughtfully--it's certainly much more than just an API reference. There's also quite a lot of general advanced Javascript information here, too.

There's at least one other book on these libraries in production from Pragmatic Programmers. If you're considering that, I strongly suggest downloading the sample chapters of both books and comparing. The Crane book is much more appealing to me (not to mention it's available now, not in six months).

Basic libraries coverage with a good example application........2007-04-19

This book lacked detailed coverage of the programming techniques and advanced topics of prototype and scriptaculous. The authors covered the basics by discussing only the API's of the libraries (more attention was given to scriptaculous API's, even though its usage is obvious and prototype API's are more extensive). With 500 pages and the libraries as the title, I expected details about the inner workings of the API's and discussions about its usages/ applications. Instead, 150 pages were devoted to verbose repetitive coverage of scriptaculous' API, which could easily have fitted into 50 pages at most. ALL of the info on scriptaculous could easily have been read online at its wiki site - the book provided no further insight (ch. 5 is especially useless)! Prototype's coverage was decent, but lacked details on several parts of its API. Although prototype and scriptaculous are tightly integrated with Rails, there was only 1 chapter devoted to its discussion, which served more like an overview than a usage guide. Based on content on the libraries alone, I would give this book 3 stars. However, if you're in need of an example application, then it may deserve 4 stars. This book provides a good example of applying prototype's ajax and scriptaculous web 2.0 techniques to a photo gallery website. It shows the advantages these libraries have over plain javascript and dhtml. The extra 100 pages wasted on scriptaculous would better serve Rails' RJS templates or a more complete/ thorough discussion of prototype. Of course it can be argued that the book is not titled, "Prototype, Scriptaculous, and Rails in Action," but it should be.

Average customer rating:

Ajax on Rals
Balanced AJAX Discussion
Phenomenal Reference for Rails Programmers
Ajax on Rails
A fine pick for any serious programming library holding.

Ajax on Rails
Scott Raymond
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596527446

Book Description

Learn to build dynamic, interactive web applications using the two most important approaches to web development today: Ajax and the phenomenally efficient Ruby on Rails platform. This book teaches intermediate to advanced web developers how to use both Ajax and Rails to quickly build high-performance, scalable applications without being overwhelmed with thousands of lines of JavaScript code. More than just recipes, you also get a thorough, low-level understanding of what's happening under the hood.

Ajax on Rails includes three fully worked out Rails/Ajax applications, and quick reference sections for Prototype and script.aculo.us.
Testing lessons show you how to eliminate cross-browser JavaScript errors and DOM debugging nightmares using a combination of Firebug, and Venkman.
Advanced material explains the most current design practices for Ajax usability. You'll learn to avoid user experience mistakes with proven design patterns.

Beyond the how-to, Ajax on Rails helps you consider when Ajax is (and isn't) appropriate, and the trade-offs associated with it. For those new to Rails, this book provides a quick introduction, the big picture, a walk through the installation process, and some tips on getting started. If you've already started working with Rails and seek to deepen your skill set, you'll find dozens of examples drawn from real-world projects, exhaustive reference for every relevant feature, and expert advice on how to "Ajaxify" your applications.

Customer Reviews:

Ajax on Rals.......2007-09-27

I am a few chapters into the book and although it is a good book that gets your started fairly quickly, there are quite a few examples that do not work. I also think that the author could have done a better job about explaining some of his examples. He does say in the introduction that the book is not trying to teach ruby or javascript, but they are integral parts of the Ajax on rails concept it looks like and he should spend more time explaining his choice of examples.

Balanced AJAX Discussion.......2007-09-24

Visuals:
Pretty standard layout. Good clear type. Page numbers, chapter titles, and section titles at bottom of page for easy skimming / searching. Screenshots are clearly printed.

Readability:
Overall the book is written in a instructive & readable format. There are also complete reference for Prototype & scriptaculous, which although you wouldn't necessarily "read" them provide explanation and examples of the various functionality provided.

Practicality:
This is a useful book for individuals looking to start adding AJAX features to their Rails application. Like most books, if you are already using the subject matter (AJAX) at a high level you will find much of the material to be a review of what you have perhaps already learned in the "trenches". Nevertheless, for beginners or experienced users alike, there is valuable information to be had. In addition to "how to do it" type material, there is also some theory about why and when to do it. For example, there are chapters covering "Usability", "Testing & Debugging", "Security" and "Performance".

Audience:
The book describes itself as written for individuals with existing web development experience. While Ruby / Rails specific experience in not necessarily required - those are fundamental topics which are beyond the scope of this book. If you are new to Ruby or Rails, it is best to acquire separate books for those topics.

Overall:
It's a keeper.

Phenomenal Reference for Rails Programmers.......2007-07-30

I'm a relative newbie to the Rails programming world, but thanks to this book I've become more than competent at using ajax within the rails framework in a very short time. This book starts with a clear step-by-step introduction to vanilla ajax, then progresses quickly into prototype and finally into using rails helpers for prototype. Next, Raymond delves into Prototype in detail, then Scriptaculous, and finally RJS. This is only the first 5 chapters, and the book would be well worth the price for the first 5 chapters alone. Beyond that are 4 solid chapters on Ajax / Rails / Web programming best practices (Usability, Testing, Security, Performance), and while none of these is exhaustive, they are all full of very good real-world advice and examples. If that's not enough, Raymond rounds it all off with comprehensive reference chapters on Prototype and Scriptaculous. (Far better than any documentation I've seen online for either of these libraries.) Lastly, he includes code and walkthroughs for 3 full-blown Rails apps. (Although I had trouble getting a couple of them up and running on my dev machine). Basically, if you're a Rails programmer or want to be a Rails programmer, you Should Have This Book. My guess is even seasoned Rails/Ajax pros could fill in some gaps with this book as a reference, and the rest of us can step up our game with it immediately. One of the best tech books I've bought in the last 5 years.

Ajax on Rails.......2007-05-12

This helps me to use Rails for building richly interactive web applications with Ajax as the author says.

A fine pick for any serious programming library holding........2007-04-11

Web programmers who want to use Ajax in conjunction with Ruby on Rails for maximum website impact will love AJAX ON RAILS, which shows how to use both to build high-performance web sites. From using RJS to generate JavaScript in Ruby templates to building easy applications and building versatility into an Ajax application, AJAX ON RAILS is a top design pick for any who have the foundations 'down' and who want to move to the next level, making it a fine pick for any serious programming library holding.

Average customer rating:

Too much book, too much money.
MySQL help!
Thick and Lovely
MySQL Recipes Galore!!!
Excellent Reading for MySQL Users

MySQL Cookbook
Paul DuBois
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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ASIN: 059652708X

Amazon.com

Good programming--which is to say, programming that yields both efficient code and a profitable life for the programmer--depends on not reinventing the wheel. If someone else has solved the problem you're facing (and someone almost always has), you'd be foolish to waste your energy figuring out your own solution. MySQL Cookbook presents solutions to scores of problems related to the MySQL database server. Readers stand a good chance of finding a ready-made solution to problems such as querying databases, validating and formatting data, importing and exporting values, and using advanced features like session tracking and transactions. Paul DuBois has done a great job assembling efficient solutions to common database programming problems, and teaches his readers a lot about MySQL and its attendant APIs in the process.

DuBois organizes his cookbook's recipes into sections on the problem, the solution stated simply, and the solution implemented in code and discussed. The implementation and discussion sections are the most valuable, as they contain the command sequences, code listings, and design explanations that can be transferred to outside projects. The main gripe readers will have about MySQL Cookbook is that the author, in his effort to cover the range of MySQL-friendly programming languages, uses different languages in his solutions to various problems. You'll see a Perl solution to one programming challenge (Perl, in fact, is the most frequently used language, followed by PHP), a Python fix for the next, and a Java sample after that. Readers have to hope that they find a solution in the language they're working with, or that they're able to transliterate the one DuBois has provided. It's usually not a big problem. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to make MySQL databases do your bidding--in terms of queries, table manipulation, data formatting, transactions, and Web interfaces--through the database server's command line interfaces and (more importantly) through the MySQL APIs of Perl, PHP, Java, and Python. Particularly excellent coverage deals with formatting dates and times, management of null values, string manipulation, and import/export techniques.

Book Description

MySQL Cookbook provides a unique problem-and-solution format that offers practical examples for everyday programming dilemmas. For every problem addressed in the book, there's a worked-out solution or "recipe"--short, focused pieces of code that you can insert directly into your applications. More than a collection of cut-and-paste code, this book explanation how and why the code works, so you can learn to adapt the techniques to similar situations.

Customer Reviews:

Too much book, too much money........2007-07-03

If this was a quick reference book, then the information contained would be useful. This, unfortunately is a big book containing a little book's amount of useful info. Save your money and print out the mysql users guide that is available online for free. I found myself using the online guide as a reference even when the book was in front of me.

Bottom line: A wide range of methods for doing things you probably already know how to do if you are using mysql.

MySQL help!.......2007-05-28

The MySQL Cookbook weighs in at over 940 pages and will help you find quick answers to everything from beginner-level basics up through dba and software developer tricks.

The book is a collection of real-world tasks and compliments Paul's DuBois' other MySQL books very well. It goes beyond basic use and admin-level goodies - it has loads of code examples as well. As a software developer using MySQL for many projects, I find the MySQL Cookbook indispensible.

Thick and Lovely.......2007-03-08

If you deal with MySQL on a daily or weekly basis then this book is a perfect go-to. So many scenarios (recipes) are covered, from simple to fairly advanced.

This second edition is almost twice as thick as the first, but that doesn't mean it's too much to handle since you wouldn't entirely read it from cover to cover because you'll want to go try out so much of it.

This really is worth space on a shelf (digital or not). I would prefer the digital edition since it'd be a breeze to search through.

MySQL Recipes Galore!!!.......2007-02-09

At ~950 pages, the 'MySQL Cookbook' is an EXTENSIVE look at using MySQL from top to bottom. Upgrading this cookbook with lots of new material and Ruby examples, Paul DuBois takes a great book and makes it that much better. There is SO much material it would be difficult to easily condense it all, but I can provide a chapter listing that should make it easier to see all the yummies included within:

01. Using the mysql Client Program
02. Writing MySQL-based Programs
03. Selecting Data
04. Table Management
05. Strings
06. Dates and Times
07. Sorting Query Results
08. Generating Summaries
09. Obtaining and Using Metadata
10. Importing/Exporting Data
11. Generating and Using Sequences
12. Using Multiple Tables
13. Statistical Techniques
14. Handling Duplicates
15. Transactions
16. Stored Procedures, Triggers, Events
17. MySQL on the Web
18. Incorporating Query Results into Web Pages
19. Processing Web Input with MySQL
20. Using MySQL-Based Web Session Management

Add on 4 appendixes and 250+ tips/tricks/recipes/yummies (yes 250!) and you have an indispensable reference for any and all MySQL developers and/or administrators. Solid layout and regular fantastic O'Reilly writing make this a MUST HAVE book for MySQL users. Go out and get it now!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Excellent Reading for MySQL Users.......2007-02-09

The MySQL Cookbook removes some abstraction from reading the docs. The recipes are concise answers to real-world questions about how to accomplish specific goals with MySQL. It covers common vexing problems that would require significant spelunking in the manuals or web search engines. The recipes provide more clarifying context than the manual, making it easier to learn how to use all those arcane features you had barely noticed. Great as a reference or, upgrade your brain by reading a few entries a day.

The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)

Average customer rating:

Deep Knowledge of Ruby
Nothing to Complain About!
Don't buy the PDF version from Sam's
My first reference for Ruby coding tasks
All you need to know about RUBY!

The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition) (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series)
Hal Fulton
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0672328844

Book Description

Ruby is an agile object-oriented language, borrowing some of the best features from LISP, Smalltalk, Perl, CLU, and other languages. Its popularity has grown tremendously in the five years since the first edition of this book.

The Ruby Way takes a âhow-toâ approach to Ruby programming with the bulk of the material consisting of more than 400 examples arranged by topic. Each example answers the question âHow do I do this in Ruby?â Working along with the author, you are presented with the task description and a discussion of the technical constraints. This is followed by a step-by-step presentation of one good solution. Along the way, the author provides detailed commentary and explanations to aid your understanding.

Coverage includes

• An overview of Ruby, explaining terminology and basic principles

• Operations on low-level data types (numbers, strings, regular expressions, dates)

• The new regular expression engine (Oniguruma)

• Internationalization (I18N) and message catalogs in Ruby

• Operations on hashes, arrays, and other data structures such as stacks, trees, and graphs

• Working with general I/O, files, and persistent objects

• Database coverage including MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, DBI, and more

• Ruby-specific techniques in OOP and dynamic programming

• Graphical interfaces in Ruby (Tk, GTK+, Fox, and Qt)

• Working with Ruby threads for lightweight multitasking

• Everyday scripting and system administration in Ruby

• Working with image files, PDFs, YAML, XML, RSS, and Atom

• Testing, debugging, profiling, and packaging Ruby code

• Low-level network programming and client-server interaction

• Web development tools including Rails, Nitro, Wee, IOWA, and more

• Working with distributed Ruby, Rinda, and Ring

• Ruby development tools such as IDEs, documentation tools, and more

The source code for the book can be downloaded from www.rubyhacker.com

Hal Fulton has worked for over 15 years with variousforms of Unix, including AIX, Solaris, and Linux. He was first exposed to Ruby in 1999, and in 2001 he began work on the first edition of this book–the second Ruby book published in the English language. He has attendednumerous Ruby conferences and has given presentations at several of those, including the first European Ruby Conference.

He has two degrees in computer science from the University of Mississippi and taught computer science for four years before moving to Austin, Texas to work as a contractor for variouscompanies, including IBM Austin. Hal currently works at Broadwing Communications in Austin, Texas, maintaining a large data warehouse and related telecom applications, working daily with C++, Oracle, and, of course, Ruby.

Customer Reviews:

Deep Knowledge of Ruby.......2007-07-24

This is a solid Ruby language manual. It has more breadth than the Pickaxe Book, covering more libraries and advanced topics. It also provides more detailed, accurate descriptions of language basics, like exactly how the "case" statement works. I'm still working my through it: it is deepening my knowledge of Ruby.

Nothing to Complain About!.......2007-07-13

(Full Disclosure: Long time computer geek)

I bought this book hoping to learn the basics of the Ruby language to keep my skills current. This book surpassed my expectations.

Not only did this book provide me with a solid understanding of key Ruby principles, it made me excited about using Ruby.

Don't buy the PDF version from Sam's.......2007-06-01

This is not a review of the book as sold buy amazon. The paper version is great. This is a review of the fake pdf sold by Sams the publisher.

This is what I have sent to Sam's and I think that it explains things

"I bought what you claimed was a pdf of this book. It turns out that what you sell is not a pdf but instead a node locked ebook that I can only read on one computer using Adobe's beta Digital Library application. This is useless to me as I work from any number of computers and locations. As far as I can tell this is sales under false pretenses or bait and switch. While I realize that your site says that there is no refunds I still expect one as you did not sell me what you listed on your product description. "

My first reference for Ruby coding tasks.......2007-05-13

Rdoc is great, and deeper than this book, but The Ruby Way is better in terms of examples. O'Reilly books really don't do it for me with Ruby, and I don't even know if they have a Ruby Cookbook, but it doesn't even matter.

This is the only Ruby book I have that isn't from the Pragmatic Programmer's publishing company. I recommend starting with this book, then working your way through the Pragmatic series if you want to get your black belt in Ruby.

All you need to know about RUBY!.......2007-04-11

As the title says it ... don't look any further ...

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