Facets of Ruby

Advanced Rails Recipes: 84 New Ways to Build Stunning Rails Apps

by Mike Clark

With the help of a community of Rails chefs in the kitchen, here are 84 new ways to kick your Rails apps up a notch. Advanced Rails Recipes is a collection of practical recipes for spicing up your web application without a lot of prep and cleanup. You’ll learn how the pros have solved the tough problems using the most up-to-date Rails 2 techniques so you can deliver your stunning web app quicker and easier.

• Watch Mike Clark run through some of the highlights of the book in an exclusive video (33Mb, Quicktime)

Agile Web Development with Rails, Third Edition

by Sam Ruby, Dave Thomas, David Heinemeier Hansson, et al

Rails just keeps on changing. Rails 2, released in 2008, brings hundreds of improvements, including new support for RESTful applications, new generator options, and so on. And, as importantly, we’ve all learned a lot more about writing Rails applications in the last few years.

So here’s the Third Edition of the Jolt Award winning book that shows you a new approach to web development, updated for Rails 2. Sam Ruby joins the team to add his world-class knowledge of web application development, making this the most up-to-date and authoritative Rails book out there.

You can buy the combo pack of the third edition (which gets the PDF now and the paper book when it’s ready).

If you need a paper book now, we have a special offer. While stocks last, we’re selling the paper version of the second edition at half price.

Why do ship dates change on beta books?

Best of Ruby Quiz

by James Edward Gray II

Sharpen your Ruby programming skills with twenty-five challenging problems from Ruby Quiz. Read the problems, work out a solution, and compare your solution with others. This book is a collection of highlights from the first year of Ruby Quiz challenges. Inside, you will find expanded content, all new solutions, and more in depth discussions of Ruby Quiz problems and solutions. This is the book for anyone who really wants to improve their Ruby skills.

Deploying Rails Applications: A Step-by-Step Guide

by Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Bruce Tate, and Clinton Begin

Until now, the information you needed to deploy a Ruby on Rails application in a production environment has been fragmented and contradictory. This book changes all of that by providing consistent, levelheaded advice you can trust. You’ll get the inside angle from those that have built, deployed, and maintained some of the largest Rails apps in production, anywhere.

Enterprise Integration with Ruby

by Maik Schmidt

Learn how the power and elegance of Ruby can make it easier to get enterprise-level applications to work together. See how Ruby can be used as the glue to combine applications in new ways, extending their lives and increasing their (and your) value to your company.

Enterprise Recipes with Ruby and Rails

by Maik Schmidt

Every web site project is really an enterprise integration project in disguise. Ruby on Rails makes it easier than ever to create complex and good-looking web sites, but there’s plenty of life beyond the rails. The 50+ recipes in this book not only show you how to integrate lurking legacy material using Ruby and Ruby on Rails, but also how to create new and highly functional applications in an enterprise environment. You can build completely new applications by enhancing and combining existing components in creative, compelling new ways.

Everyday Active Record

by Ryan Bates

Active Record models are the foundation of every good Rails application. Learn how to get the most out of the Active Record features that you use on a day-to-day basis from a popular Rails developer and screencaster. In these screencasts, Ryan Bates incrementally builds the models for a Rails application and refactors them over time to address new features. All the code is based on Rails 2.1 features.

Everyday Scripting with Ruby: for Teams, Testers, and You

by Brian Marick

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.

From Java To Ruby: Things Every Manager Should Know

by Bruce Tate

You want your development team to be productive. You want to write flexible, maintainable web applications. You want to use Ruby and Rails. But can you justify the move away from established platforms such as J2EE? Bruce Tate’s From Java to Ruby has the answers, and it expresses them in a language that’ll help persuade managers and executives who’ve seen it all. See when and where the switch makes sense, and see how to make it.

Learn to Program

by Chris Pine

Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to program computers, but couldn’t find a book that made sense. Maybe you’re already a programmer, and you’d like to fill in the gaps or help your spouse or partner see what you do. Or, perhaps you’d like to get your child started.

This is the book for you. Using Ruby, you’ll learn to program with no previous experience, create your own utilities and applications, take control of your computer, and build a foundation to understand large, professional applications.

Payment Processing with Paypal and Ruby

by Joe Fair

Building a top-notch web site requires a lot of technical expertise. Keeping track of changing requirements and new technologies, not to mention the competition, can keep you on your toes. Processing payments is a small, but important part of a successful site.

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition

by Dave Thomas, with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt

The Pickaxe book, named for the tool on the cover, is the definitive reference to Ruby, a highly-regarded, fully object-oriented programming language. This Second Edition has more than 200 pages of new content, and substantial enhancements to the original, covering all the new and improved language features of Ruby 1.8 and standard library modules.

Third Edition is Now Available

Ruby is in a period of transition. Ruby 1.8 is the current release for production use. A new version, Ruby 1.9, is available for those who like to live on the leading edge. Ruby 1.9 is an incremental change, but does include some incompatibilities with 1.8. If you want a paper book now, or if you prefer reading about the stable version of Ruby, then the book on this page is for you. If instead you want to read about the new features in 1.9, then check out the Third Edition.

Programming Ruby 1.9: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

by Dave Thomas, with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt

This is the Pickaxe book, named for the tool on the cover. The original PickAxe was the first English-language book on Ruby. Each edition of the book tracks the latest Ruby release, and each is the definitive reference to Ruby. This time we’ve broken with tradition. This isn’t a third edition. It’s technically a separate book. That’s because it reflects all the new features of Ruby 1.9, and we want both it and the second edition (which covers 1.8) to be available at the same time.

Ruby is the fastest growing and most exciting dynamic language out there. If you need to get working programs delivered fast, you should add Ruby to your toolbox.

Why do ship dates change on beta books?

Did You Buy the Second Edition of the Original PickAxe from Us?

If you bought the second edition book or PDF from us, we have some significant savings for you. Visit your home page for details.

Rails for .NET Developers

by Jeff Cohen and Brian Eng

Rails for .NET Developers introduces the joy of Ruby on Rails development to Microsoft .NET developers. This book demonstrates the essential elements of both the Ruby language and the Rails application framework, geared especially for developers already fluent in the Microsoft .NET platform.

Rails for Java Developers

by Stuart Halloway and Justin Gehtland

Many Java developers are now looking at Ruby, and the Ruby on Rails web framework. If you are one of them, this book is your guide. Written by experienced developers who love both Java and Ruby, this book will show you, via detailed comparisons and commentary, how to translate your hard-earned Java knowledge and skills into the world of Ruby and Rails.

Rails Recipes

by Chad Fowler

You’ve read the tutorials and watched the online videos. You have a strong grasp of all of the ingredients that make up a successful Rails application. But ingredients don’t just turn themselves into a meal. Chad Fowler’s Rails Recipes is a collection of recipes that will take you step by step through the the most cutting edge Rails techniques, mixing the ingredients to create world-class web applications. Learn how to do it, and how to do it right.

(Note: this book was written for Rails 1.x. Most of the recipes are still appropriate for Rails 2, perhaps with some tweaking. Advanced Rails Recipes is a newer book, written for Rails 2.0.)

Rapid GUI Development with QtRuby

by Caleb Tennis

See how to use the powerful Qt3 library to create cross-platform GUI applications for Linux and OS X in Ruby.

RubyCocoa: Bringing Some Ruby Love to OS X Programming

by Brian Marick

RubyCocoa brings together two enthusiastic development communities. Ruby programmers will tell you how productive they are with just the right amount of code. Cocoa developers know the importance of a clean, intuitive interface.

Now, through RubyCocoa, the joy of Cocoa meets the joy of Ruby.

Scripted GUI Testing with Ruby

by Ian Dees

If you need to automatically test a user interface, this book is for you. Whether it’s Windows, a Java platform (including Mac, Linux, and others) or a web app, you’ll see how to test it reliably and repeatably.

Many automated test frameworks promise the world and deliver nothing but headaches. Fortunately, you’ve got a secret weapon: Ruby. Ruby lets you build up a solution to fit your problem, rather than forcing your problem to fit into someone else’s idea of testing.

This book is for people who want to get their hands dirty on examples from the real world—and who know that testing can be a joy when the tools don’t get in the way. It starts with the mechanics of simulating button pushes and keystrokes, and builds up to writing clear code, organizing tests, and beyond.

The Ruby Object Model and Metaprogramming

by Dave Thomas

Metaprogramming lets you program more expressively. This makes your code easier to write and easier to maintain and extend. Learn both the hows and whys of metaprogramming Ruby from Dave Thomas, one of the most experienced Ruby programmers in the western world.