From bdarcus at myrealbox.com Sat Aug 7 15:41:02 2004 From: bdarcus at myrealbox.com (Bruce D'Arcus) Date: Sat Aug 7 15:41:05 2004 Subject: recommended? In-Reply-To: <406B0771.80808@poignantguide.net> References: <406B0771.80808@poignantguide.net> Message-ID: On Mar 31, 2004, at 1:01 PM, why the lucky stiff wrote: > 'can you foresee any reason you wouldn't recommend the Guide as the > #1 starting point for a Ruby newcomer?' I just finally checked this account after months, and found 99% spam, and this. I'm a newbie to programming and to Ruby, so maybe I'm a good test? My only coding background is with XSLT, and I work with a lot of text and XML (I'm a scholar). I find I learn by doing more than anything, with well-explained, complete (no code fragments please), and practical examples. So useful stuff for me would be something like: I want to download an article (or group of them) from the New York Times, run Tidy to convert to XHTML, and run a regex-based text cleaner on it to convert "dumb quotes" to semantic quotes. That deals with working with files, it deals with the web-related stuff, and with regular expression support. I'd also like to learn how to create a simple command-line interface to do some of this sort of stuff. Beyond that, I think the writing tends too-often towards being -- sorry to be blunt -- pretentious. As you write (and I make my living writing, so do this myself), ask yourself whether you are communicating what you need to communicate in the most direct way. Bruce From byates at emich.edu Sun Aug 8 19:07:39 2004 From: byates at emich.edu (Ben Yates) Date: Sun Aug 8 19:07:48 2004 Subject: poignant-stiffs Digest, Vol 6, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <200408081600.i78G06Kd001817@rubyforge.org> References: <200408081600.i78G06Kd001817@rubyforge.org> Message-ID: <4116B23B.3050505@emich.edu> > Beyond that, I think the writing tends too-often towards being -- > sorry to be blunt -- pretentious. As you write (and I make my living > writing, so do this myself), ask yourself whether you are > communicating what you need to communicate in the most direct way. One of the charming points of W(P)GtR is that it's not a typical programming manual -- which is to say, it's not direct, it's entertaining. I can say that for non-programmers (well, for me) the Guide is pretty damn powerful -- it doesn't just tell you how Ruby works, it makes you want to know. I have very little interest in or aptitude for programming and I had to pull myself away from learning the language because I had too much other stuff to do. (By the way, I wrote up W(P)GtR in a ridiculously hyperbolic everything2 node -- http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1669460 ) From andrewj at bcm.tmc.edu Mon Aug 9 12:04:28 2004 From: andrewj at bcm.tmc.edu (Andrew R Jackson) Date: Mon Aug 9 12:04:32 2004 Subject: poignant-stiffs Digest, Vol 6, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <4116B23B.3050505@emich.edu> Message-ID: <00a601c47e2a$8c9b4a10$3299f980@Sodaash> > > Beyond that, I think the writing tends too-often towards being -- > > sorry to be blunt -- pretentious. As you write (and I make > my living > > writing, so do this myself), ask yourself whether you are > > communicating what you need to communicate in the most direct way. > > > One of the charming points of W(P)GtR is that it's not a typical > programming manual -- which is to say, it's not direct, it's > entertaining. I can say that for non-programmers (well, for me) the > Guide is pretty damn powerful -- it doesn't just tell you how Ruby > works, it makes you want to know. I have very little interest in or > aptitude for programming and I had to pull myself away from > learning the > language because I had too much other stuff to do. I have to agree with Ben here. I am a programmer (as a living, not so much as a hobby) and my language of choice is Ruby. Probably the very most bestest thing about W(P)GtR is the writing style! It is entertaining and funny, and its eclectic nature lends strongly to that. There are so many learn-Ruby guides out there for the non-programmer and more serious ones for those who need a course (the interactive online Programming Ruby book is what I put the students through ;). It is *so* nice to have something that is *not* one of those dry, overly-communicative, too-direct sources without any attempt at Art. [ Yes, I said attempt, I'll decide later if W(P)GtR is Art or not...maybe...part of the amusement. ] It would be fun if: (1) it could be a little less to the point, perhaps through additional indirection (2) there existed a leather-bound version, with a well worn cover Or not. Andrew From bdarcus at myrealbox.com Mon Aug 9 12:28:35 2004 From: bdarcus at myrealbox.com (Bruce D'Arcus) Date: Mon Aug 9 12:28:38 2004 Subject: poignant-stiffs Digest, Vol 6, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: <00a601c47e2a$8c9b4a10$3299f980@Sodaash> References: <00a601c47e2a$8c9b4a10$3299f980@Sodaash> Message-ID: <297C89D4-EA21-11D8-A17C-000A95B10832@myrealbox.com> On Aug 9, 2004, at 12:04 PM, Andrew R Jackson wrote: > It is *so* nice to have something that is *not* one of those dry, > overly-communicative, too-direct sources without any attempt at Art. [ > Yes, I said attempt, I'll decide later if W(P)GtR is Art or > not...maybe...part of the amusement. ] Note: I am not saying ti should be dry. I don't have time to give examples now, but maybe when the next chapter is out I'll pick out a few to demonstrate what I mean. Bruce From ryan.platte at gmail.com Tue Aug 10 14:20:41 2004 From: ryan.platte at gmail.com (Ryan Platte) Date: Tue Aug 10 14:20:45 2004 Subject: recommended? In-Reply-To: References: <406B0771.80808@poignantguide.net> Message-ID: <2f1a1dcb04081011205fe4123a@mail.gmail.com> On Sat, 7 Aug 2004 15:41:02 -0400, Bruce D'Arcus wrote: ... > I'd also like to learn how to create a simple command-line interface to > do some of this sort of stuff. > > Beyond that, I think the writing tends too-often towards being -- sorry > to be blunt -- pretentious. As you write (and I make my living > writing, so do this myself), ask yourself whether you are communicating > what you need to communicate in the most direct way. I doubt you're in the intended audience. More probably in the intended audience is someone like my wife, who's brilliant but hasn't explored much programming because she can't be bothered with jargon, which I think (and she thinks) _why does a fine job of dispatching (as in getting rid of it, not as in double-dispatch, of course). I also think the label "silly" would apply more aptly than "pretentious", if only because the text is so cheery. To my mind, the world has enough "Learn XQHKELMNOP In 12 Seconds" and not enough "How is XQHKELMNOP Like Milking a Cow?" All that said, I haven't found the time to go back and read the whole thing; it probably could stand to be a bit more of a page-turner... -- Ryan Platte From rpardee at comcast.net Sun Aug 29 11:16:36 2004 From: rpardee at comcast.net (Roy Pardee (Poulsbo WA)) Date: Sun Aug 29 11:16:49 2004 Subject: The Tiger's Vest (with a Basic Introduction to Irb) In-Reply-To: <41059184.2030300@poignantguide.net> Message-ID: <000001c48ddb$311a54e0$6401a8c0@blackula> Hey All, Apologies if this isn't a proper forum for this--pls feel free to redirect me... I can't get ri to work. I'm on winxp. Googling led me to change my path, but it seems like the problem is that bin\ri.bat wants me to have a T: drive mapping, which I don't, and don't know where that should be mapped in any event. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Thanks! -Roy -----Original Message----- From: poignant-stiffs-bounces@rubyforge.org [mailto:poignant-stiffs-bounces@rubyforge.org] On Behalf Of why the lucky stiff Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 4:20 PM To: poignant-watchers@rubyforge.org; poignant-stiffs@rubyforge.org Subject: The Tiger's Vest (with a Basic Introduction to Irb) Hello. Thankyou for your waiting. Testing, testing encrypted giraffe lungs. (I'm having the elf feed him a few more bananas such that the words will slip-squizz out faster.) I am glad My arms Aren't too Long to Write a Book. Still, I wish They were Even a bit Closer. The first expansion pak to the (Poignant) Guide is called The Tiger's Vest. In chapter four, I am now asking the reader to branch away from the book for a moment to install Ruby. And it's at: http://poignantguide.net/ruby/expansion-pak-1.html These expansion paks are diversions, things which may change frequently and tell side stories and contain role-playing games. Okay, back to chapter five. Have some potion. _why _______________________________________________ poignant-stiffs mailing list poignant-stiffs@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/poignant-stiffs