View Larger Image	Brian Marick Pragmatic Bookshelf, Paperback, Published January 2007, 200 pages, ISBN 0977616614
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• Other Topics : Open Source
• Programming Languages : Ruby
• Programming : Object-Oriented

• Pragmatic Bookshelf

Are you a tester who spends more time manually creating complex test data than using it? A business analyst who seemingly went to college all those years so you can spend your days copying data from reports into spreadsheets? A programmer who can't finish each day's task without having to scan through version control system output, looking for the file you want?

If so, you're wasting that computer on your desk. Offload the drudgery to where it belongs, and free yourself to do what you should be doing: thinking. All you need is a scripting language (free!), this book (cheap!), and the dedication to work through the examples and exercises.

Everyday Scripting with Ruby is divided into four parts. In the first, you'll learn the basics of the Ruby scripting language. In the second, you'll see how to create scripts in a steady, controlled way using test-driven design. The third part is about finding, understanding, and using the work of others--and about preparing your scripts for others to use. The fourth part, more advanced, is about saving even more time by using application frameworks.

About the Author

Brian Marick graduated in 1981 with one degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and another one in English Literature. In his early career, he continued to be confused about his identity. Sometimes he was a programmer. Sometimes he was a tester. He became better at each because he understood the other.

Brian is the author of The Craft of Software Testing, which promotes test design techniques, how testers support the team, and unscripted exploratory manual testing. He was an author of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and was the second chair of the Agile Alliance board of directors. Because the Agile methods encourage cross-disciplinary work, he's once again without a fixed identity. When consulting, he sticks his nose into everything.

Apr 6, 2007     Mike Cohn (mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com) from Boulder, Colorado
Best book available for beginning with Ruby
During the mid- and late-1980s I was was working in C and eventually C++. During that period I devoured any programming book I could get my hands on. My favorites were very practical books--those books that built real, working examples. Herb Schildt and Al Stevens were the best at this. Ive often wished for such books on the newer languages as I learn them. Brian Marick has given us exactly this type of book with his Everyday Scripting with Ruby.

I'm one of those programmers who read a little bit about Ruby and was only mildly intrigued until I read about Rails. Once I read about Rails I just dove in. I didnt bother to learn much Ruby, only looking something up in Programming Ruby when I couldn't figure it out by trial and error. I became proficient enough at getting things done in Rails but certainly didn't have a solid, comfortable feeling for Ruby itself. This book fills in those gaps for me. This is the Ruby book I wish I'd read first.

Everyday Scripting with Ruby covers four very real-life small projects, each of a decent size. The projects are small enough that you don't need to remember every detail from the prior 100 pages but are big enough that you can learn real lessons from them. This is absolutely the best beginner book on Ruby available.

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