Well, Chris Pine’s book is for sale, you can even get the PDF within seconds from the praggies. Presently, the combo pack gets you both the PDF and paper copies for $24.95. I’ve read the preview copy of this book and it’s really done well.

You’re possibly already familiar with the online tutorial which the book is based on. Things get juicier in this expanded version: he does get into using YAML and working with files and directories.

My favorite parts of the book (and same goes for the online tutorial) are the little challenges in the chapters which give the reader some short programs to write. If you’re struggling to write your first Ruby program, this’ll shake some code out of ya.

Write an Angry Boss program. It should rudely ask what you want. Whatever you answer, the Angry Boss should yell it back to you, and then fire you. For example, if you type in I want a raise , it should yell back

WHADDAYA MEAN “I WANT A RAISE”?!? YOU’RE FIRED!!

It’s really hard to know what works for newbs, since there are so many approaches and you don’t want to belabor the points you’re making. Chris is really the best we have for this kind of thing. He really moves things along brisklike and doesn’t miss a thing. Anyway, I’m thrilled for Chris and Dave. More!