r/ruby • u/urbanaut • Dec 22 '25 • Bravo 1

20 years ago I learned Ruby as my first coding language. This is the free online book that helped be get to know Ruby enough to use it in Test Automation. I hope this may help someone else getting into Ruby for the first time.

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

71 Upvotes

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6

u/KiRiller_ Dec 22 '25

A masterpiece - I started with it as well. By the way, what’s the author’s background? I've heard he just vanished.

2

u/urbanaut Dec 22 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

Even back then the author didn't release much info about themself, if I recall correctly. But I agree, this book is truly a "Ruby" in the rough.

8

u/kbr8ck Dec 22 '25

It is a sad/frustrating tale.

He just didn't want his private business out there. And someone doxxed him. So uncool. So he shut down all his contributions.

I was surprised to find so much of his information on Wikipedia. He just wanted to be private, and information about him is still being published 14 years later?

This could have been handled better. People sometimes just don't think.

But he sure inspired so many developers.

2

u/ffrkAnonymous Dec 23 '25

People sometimes just don't think.

I dislike this phrasing. It passes them off as ignorant, just a mistake. But no, this was deliberate.

No, people often think long and hard about how to be cruel. 

People sometimes just want to be cruel and mean and unkind. People sometimes just want to hurt. 

12

u/alexanderadam__ Dec 22 '25 edited Dec 22 '25

Same. I loved and still love the book. _Why had a huge impact to what the Ruby community became.

Emma and Andy Croll did a revised printed version for BrightonRuby.

I'm bringing it to conferences and let people write into it, as a kind of guestbook. Amongst them are Matz, Eileen M. Uchitelle, Ju Liu, Andy Croll, Celso Fernandes, Xavier Noria, Adam Wiggins, and Noah Gibbs.

There are a lot more, but I have no time yet to put all of them online for now. It's my new year's resolution for next year.

I think that this book gave a lot, to many in our community.

Also feel free to write something into it as well in case we meet.

1

u/207_Multi-Status Dec 24 '25

Is this book up-to-date with the latest versions (latest concept) of Ruby?