«

Greetings. Man, I'm giddy about this announcement. My blood is visibly
pulsing.

On Nov. 11, 2003, during RubyConf 2003, I kinda mentioned a major
project of mine that I believed would "change the Ruby world
significantly." [1] Well, we'll see about that. Sorry if that was a
bit pompous, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby is a free, open-source book for anyone
wanting to learn Ruby. I have finished the first three chapters. You
can start reading at http://poignantguide.net/.

This book is not so much a manual. There will be no reference. This
book is closer to a novel, a comic, or maybe a biography. Or all
three. Ultimately, I'd like to have a book that could be so accessible
that it could be a NYT bestseller. Of course, I don't ever expect that
to happen, but that's how plain I'd like the instruction to be.

Face it. This is the future. Kids are going to be programming their
skateboards, their GI-Joe tanks, their shoelaces, their oatmeal. Ruby
could easily be that language that the common man can get his hooks
into. This probably isn't the book that will make Ruby become
universal, but it's a steppie in that vicinity.

My roadmap has the book finished next summer. This gives me a couple
months for each chapter. I'd like to release early and often. The best
thing you can do is bug me. Feedback. Constant reminders when a new
chapter is due. Bug me to death. The demand will motivate me. If you
don't like the book, tell me why.

I have no intention to print the book. I have no desire to publish. I
am not working on PDF, Palm, TeX, etc. versions of the book. I am
writing the book and I am going to leave those matters for later.

However, I will be setting up a RubyForge project soon. The
YAML/Textile source for the book will be available for any of you to
format, print or reuse. I am releasing it all (graphics included) under
the GPL'ish Attribution-ShareAlike [2] license of the Creative Commons.
Cool?

Okay, then. I *starch* you all!

_why

[1] http://whytheluckystiff.net/arch/2003/11/17
[2] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/

why the lucky stiff wrote:

> Greetings. Man, I'm giddy about this announcement. My blood is
> visibly pulsing.
>
> On Nov. 11, 2003, during RubyConf 2003, I kinda mentioned a major
> project of mine that I believed would "change the Ruby world
> significantly." [1] Well, we'll see about that. Sorry if that was a
> bit pompous, but I'll let you be the judge of that.
>
> Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby is a free, open-source book for anyone
> wanting to learn Ruby. I have finished the first three chapters. You
> can start reading at http://poignantguide.net/.
>
> This book is not so much a manual. There will be no reference. This
> book is closer to a novel, a comic, or maybe a biography. Or all
> three. Ultimately, I'd like to have a book that could be so
> accessible that it could be a NYT bestseller. Of course, I don't ever
> expect that to happen, but that's how plain I'd like the instruction
> to be.
>
> Face it. This is the future. Kids are going to be programming their
> skateboards, their GI-Joe tanks, their shoelaces, their oatmeal. Ruby
> could easily be that language that the common man can get his hooks
> into. This probably isn't the book that will make Ruby become
> universal, but it's a steppie in that vicinity.
>
> My roadmap has the book finished next summer. This gives me a couple
> months for each chapter. I'd like to release early and often. The
> best thing you can do is bug me. Feedback. Constant reminders when a
> new chapter is due. Bug me to death. The demand will motivate me.
> If you don't like the book, tell me why.
>
> I have no intention to print the book. I have no desire to publish.
> I am not working on PDF, Palm, TeX, etc. versions of the book. I am
> writing the book and I am going to leave those matters for later.
>
> However, I will be setting up a RubyForge project soon. The
> YAML/Textile source for the book will be available for any of you to
> format, print or reuse. I am releasing it all (graphics included)
> under the GPL'ish Attribution-ShareAlike [2] license of the Creative
> Commons. Cool?
>
> Okay, then. I *starch* you all!
>
> _why
>
> [1] http://whytheluckystiff.net/arch/2003/11/17
> [2] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/


Shoot for the starts why don't you, man! Your giddyness is palpable -
and i kinda got a kick out of the post. Going over there to read pronto
because, the other morning i was thinking, could'nt i write a program to
keep my oatmeal from lumping :O)

Anyway I really do wish you the best and i'll send some feedback for sure.

Paul

il Wed, 18 Feb 2004 04:58:00 +0900, why the lucky stiff
<ruby-> ha scritto::

>Greetings. Man, I'm giddy about this announcement. My blood is visibly
>pulsing.

I love this.
I repeat:
I love this.
too bad I can't give it to my little cousin that does not speak
english

BTW, you should put links for this on internet newssite. That is
something like 'The little prince reads SICP'. geeks will scream at
you.

On Tuesday 17 February 2004 22:04, gabriele renzi wrote:
> I love this.
> I repeat:
> I love this.
> too bad I can't give it to my little cousin that does not speak
> english

how about translations?

my dutch really does suck but i'd just love to get my
cousins speaking ruby as i'm pretty fluent in that

ciao,
Alex

--
Sometimes when you look into his eyes you get the feeling that someone
else is driving.
-- David Letterman

why the lucky stiff wrote:

> Greetings. Man, I'm giddy about this announcement. My blood is
> visibly pulsing.
>
>

Okay. That is seriously the funnest thing I've read in a long time.
Thank-you!

A few minor typos I noted:

Chapter 2, Part 2, near the end:
"cel phone"
"whose to say" (should be "who's to say")

Chapter 3, discussion on blocks:
"shoot" should be "chute"

Thanks again!

- Jamis

--
Jamis Buck

http://www.jamisbuck.org/blog/jamis.cgi

ruby -h | ruby -e 'a=[];readlines.join.scan(/-(.)\[e|Kk(\S*)|le.l(..)e|#!(\S*)/) {|r| a << r.compact.first };puts "\n>#{a.join(%q/ /)}<\n\n"'

gabriele renzi wrote:
> too bad I can't give it to my little cousin that does not speak
> english

....chapter three and going strong, I've got to say I think that is a
_good_ thing. I'm getting the feeling this should come with a PG-rating,
and be kept safe out of the reach of wee 'uns, the easily agitated and
politicians.

And that's just the sidebars

--
(\[ Kent Dahl ]/)_ _~_ _____[ http://www.pvv.org/~kentda/ ]_____/~
))\_student_/(( \__d L b__/ Master of Science in Technology )
( \__\_õ|õ_/__/ ) _) Industrial economics and technology management (
\____/_ö_\____/ (____engineering.discipline_=_Computer::Technology ___)

On Wednesday, February 18, 2004, 8:40:03 AM, Jamis wrote:

> why the lucky stiff wrote:

>> Greetings. Man, I'm giddy about this announcement. My blood is
>> visibly pulsing.
>>
>>

> Okay. That is seriously the funnest thing I've read in a long time.
> Thank-you!

> A few minor typos I noted:

While we're on it: "wierd" appears in a cartoon. (Heh, grep _that_!)

Gavin

Alexander Kellett wrote:

>On Tuesday 17 February 2004 22:04, gabriele renzi wrote:
>
>
>>I love this.
>>I repeat:
>>I love this.
>>too bad I can't give it to my little cousin that does not speak
>>english
>>
>>
>
>how about translations?
>
>my dutch really does suck but i'd just love to get my
>cousins speaking ruby as i'm pretty fluent in that
>
Calm down. I want to help everyone's cousins. Let's see what we can do.

I have not an whim of idea as to how we could get this book translated.
Especially considering that I am constantly revising and rephrasing. In
addition, I intend to change flow based on audience reaction. I fear
that embarking on translation too soon will either (a) inhibit the
flexibility of revisions or (b) drive the translators to harpoon
theyselves, leaving behind them a smattering of ancient (poignant)
translations. Yeh?

I *starch* you! (And we'll make it through this together.)

_why

Jamis Buck wrote:

> A few minor typos I noted:
>
> Chapter 2, Part 2, near the end:
> "cel phone"
> "whose to say" (should be "who's to say")
>
> Chapter 3, discussion on blocks:
> "shoot" should be "chute"
>
Good eye. All repaired. Be sure to join the mailing list when it
enters existence.

*starch*

_why

Kent Dahl wrote:

> ....chapter three and going strong, I've got to say I think that is a
> _good_ thing. I'm getting the feeling this should come with a
> PG-rating, and be kept safe out of the reach of wee 'uns, the easily
> agitated and politicians.

Not to worry. The "clean" version is in the works and (fingers crossed)
will likely come with a plush toy fox.

Thanks. (*starch*)

_why