I am looking into learning more about Ruby. I am already well versed in the basics of the language and have written various scripts and assorted easy stuff, just through my knowledge gained by Google and Stack Overflow, etc... But I am looking into getting more serious with the language, and wish to learn more about the concepts and advanced Ruby programming to start programming full-featured applications with it. I really hope to try to master Ruby itself before I move onto Rails, so I am looking for a real Ruby programming book that you would highly recommend. If you have any Rails books that you would recommend, please recommend them too!<p>So, any recommendations?
I highly recommend the pickaxe book (<a href="http://pragprog.com/book/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9" rel="nofollow">http://pragprog.com/book/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9</a>) for a full examination of Ruby and its standard libraries, as well as for a reference later on.<p>Sandy Metz's new book on advanced object oriented design in Ruby is amazing and a fun read (<a href="http://www.poodr.info/book/" rel="nofollow">http://www.poodr.info/book/</a>)<p>And Michael Hartl's online Rails tutorial is in my opinion the best place to learn Rails from beginning concepts to advanced strategies (<a href="http://ruby.railstutorial.org/" rel="nofollow">http://ruby.railstutorial.org/</a>)
One recommendation, and one meta-recommendation:<p>The recommendation: Mr. Neighborly's Humble Little Ruby Book. Short (maybe 150 pages).<p>Meta-recommendation: Get a copy of Anki (free), and as you read, make new cards that test a single piece of knowledge (this can mean you make two or three cards for one concept...so be it!).