Learn Ruby the Hard Way A Simple and Idiomatic Introduction to the Imaginative World Of Computational Thinking with Code

by Shaw, Zed A.

• ISBN13: 9780321884992
• ISBN10: 032188499X
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-12-07
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

Master Ruby and become a programmer -- even if you never thought you could! This breakthrough book and CD can help practically anyone get started in programming. It's called "The Hard Way," but it's really quite simple. What's "hard" is this: it requires discipline, practice, and persistence. Zed A. Shaw teaches Ruby through a series of brilliantly-crafted exercises -- all formatted consistently, and none longer than two pages (including "extra credit"). Just read them, type in their sample code precisely (no copy-and-paste!), and make the programs run. As you read, type, fix your mistakes, and watch the results, you'll learn how software works, how programming works, what good programs look like, and how to read, write, and see code. You'll learn all you need to know about Ruby logic, input/output, variables, and functions -- and, by the time you're done, you'll be building complete web applications. Above all, you'll learn the attention to detail that is indispensable to successful programming. At first, yes, it can be difficult. But it gets easier.And Shaw offers plenty of extra guidance and insight through 5+ full hours of teaching video on the accompanying CD. As Shaw's thousands of online fans will attest, the moment will come when you just "get it" -- and that moment feels great. Nothing important comes without hard work and focus. But, with this package, if you bring those qualities, you willmaster Ruby… and you willreap the very real rewards that go with that!

Author Biography

Zed A. Shaw is the author of the popular online books Learn Python The Hard Way, Learn Ruby The Hard Way, and Learn C The Hard Way.  He is also the creator of several open source software projects like Mongrel, Lamson, Mongrel2, and has been programming and writing for nearly 20 years.

Table of Contents

Part 1:

Exercise 0. The Setup

Exercise 1. A Good First Program

Exercise 2. Comments And Pound Characters

Exercise 3. Numbers And Math

Exercise 4. Variables And Names

Exercise 5. More Variables And Printing

Exercise 6. Strings And Text

Exercise 7. More Printing

Exercise 8. Printing, Printing

Exercise 9. Printing, Printing, Printing

Exercise 10. What Was That?

Exercise 11. Asking Questions

Exercise 12. Prompting People

Exercise 13. Parameters, Unpacking, Variables

Exercise 14. Prompting And Passing

Exercise 15. Reading Files

Exercise 16. Reading And Writing Files

Exercise 17. More Files

Exercise 18. Names, Variables, Code, Functions

Exercise 19. Functions And Variables

Exercise 20. Functions And Files

Exercise 21. Functions Can Return Something

Exercise 22. What Do You Know So Far?

Exercise 23. Read Some Code

Exercise 24. More Practice

Exercise 25. Even More Practice

Exercise 26. Congratulations, Take A Test!

Exercise 27. Memorizing Logic

Exercise 28. Boolean Practice

Exercise 29. What If

Exercise 30. Else And If

Exercise 31. Making Decisions

Exercise 32. Loops And Lists

Exercise 33. While Loops

Exercise 34. Accessing Elements Of Lists

Exercise 35. Branches and Functions

Exercise 36. Designing and Debugging

Exercise 37. Symbol Review

Exercise 38. Reading Code

Exercise 39. Doing Things To Lists

Exercise 40. Dictionaries, Oh Lovely Dictionaries

Exercise 41. Gothons From Planet Percal #25

Exercise 42. Gothons Are Getting Classy

Exercise 43. You Make A Game

Exercise 44. Evaluating Your Game

Exercise 45. Is-A, Has-A, Objects, and Classes

Exercise 46. A Project Skeleton

Exercise 47. Automated Testing

Exercise 48. Advanced User Input

Exercise 49. Making Sentences

Exercise 50. Your First Website

Exercise 51. Getting Input From A Browser

Exercise 52. The Start of Your Web Game

Next Steps

Advice from An Old Programmer

 

Part 2:

Developing Smart Applications in Ruby

(Ten new chapters)