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Best Ruby Books

Enhance your programming skills with this curated list of the best Ruby books, as ranked by mentions in authoritative tech and developer communities.

Recommendations from 34 articles, Derek Sivers, Jeff Atwood, Taylor Otwell and 5 others.
Best Ruby Books
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The Well-Grounded Rubyist book cover
The Well-Grounded Rubyist
David A. Black - 2009-06-16 (first published in 2008)
Goodreads Rating
Learn everything you need to know about Ruby programming with The Well-Grounded Rubyist. From basics to advanced topics like reflection and threading, this beautifully written tutorial will take you from novice to proficient practitioner. With easy-to-follow examples and clear explanations, you'll gain immediate confidence in building your Ruby programming skills. This thoroughly revised and updated edition covers Ruby 1.9 and provides a broader view of Ruby beyond Rails, including tools like Rake and Irb. You'll even explore advanced topics like class and module system design and using Ruby threads. Perfect for both beginners and advanced readers, it's no wonder one reviewer said the technical depth is just right.
Eloquent Ruby book cover
Eloquent Ruby
Russ Olsen - 2011-02-11
Goodreads Rating
Learn how to write great Ruby code and truly understand the language's unique way of thinking and problem solving with Eloquent Ruby. Russ Olsen, an experienced Rubyist, guides readers through the fundamentals and advanced techniques of Ruby programming. From writing code that truly looks like Ruby to writing your own code and using Domain Specific Languages, this book is perfect for any programmer looking to gain fluency and leverage the immense power of Ruby.
Practical Object-Oriented Design book cover
Practical Object-Oriented Design
An Agile Primer Using Ruby
Sandi Metz - 2012-08-19
Goodreads Rating
Learn how to create maintainable and extensible Ruby code with powerful object-oriented design techniques in Practical Object-Oriented Design. With downloadable examples and proven practices distilled from a lifetime of conversations and presentations, expert Sandi Metz shows you how to build new applications that can handle success and how to fix existing code that's impossible to change. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, this fully updated guide will help you achieve superior outcomes in Ruby 2.X.
The Ruby Programming Language book cover
The Ruby Programming Language
David Flanagan - 2008-03-04
Goodreads Rating
This comprehensive guide to Ruby covers both version 1.8 and 1.9 and is written by an all-star team, including the creator of Ruby himself. With a quick-start tutorial and detailed explanations of the language's structure, datatypes, and more, this book is perfect for experienced programmers new to Ruby or those looking to increase their mastery of the language. Plus, it includes thorough introductions to Ruby's rich API and metaprogramming capabilities.
Programming Ruby 1.9 book cover
Programming Ruby 1.9
The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide (Facets of Ruby)
Dave Thomas - 2004-11-09 (first published in 2000)
Goodreads Rating
Learn how to code faster and more efficiently with the latest version of Ruby - Ruby 1.9. With its multinationalization support, new block scoping, and better performance, Ruby 1.9 is a powerful tool for intelligent, forward-thinking programmers. This reference manual covers everything from the standard library modules to all built-in classes and modules, including new and changed methods introduced in Ruby 1.9. Discover the exciting new features of Ruby 1.9 like local variable scoping in blocks, fibers, multinationalization, and the new block declaration syntax. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced programmer, this book is a valuable resource for mastering Ruby.
Ruby on Rails Tutorial book cover
Ruby on Rails Tutorial
Michael Hartl - 2012-01-01
Goodreads Rating
Learn how to build web applications with the popular Ruby on Rails framework in the Ruby on Rails Tutorial. Used by major companies like Disney, GitHub, Shopify, and Airbnb, this best-selling book focuses on developing essential web development skills, including Ruby, HTML, CSS, and SQL. Follow author Michael Hartl as he guides you through the creation of three increasingly complex example applications, demonstrating each new technique with easy-to-understand code. Master the Model-View-Controller pattern, testing and test-driven development, and the REST architecture while creating high-quality layouts and data models. With full compatibility with Rails 6, this indispensable guide will help you reach true Rails mastery.
Metaprogramming Ruby book cover
Metaprogramming Ruby
Program Like the Ruby Pros (Facets of Ruby)
Paolo Perrotta - 2010-03-23
Goodreads Rating
Unlock the full potential of Ruby programming with Metaprogramming. With this fascinating technique, you can produce elegant, clean, and beautiful programs that are easy to maintain and change. This Second Edition of the bestselling book Metaprogramming Ruby arms you with a practical toolbox that will help you write your best Ruby code ever. Discover the deep, non-obvious details of the language and explore Ruby's most advanced feature through pragmatic examples and programming challenges. Featuring 33 practical recipes and idioms, this completely revised new edition covers new features in Ruby 2.0 and 2.1 and includes code from the latest Ruby libraries, including Rails 4. A must-read for Ruby programmers of all levels.
Head First Ruby book cover
Head First Ruby
A Brain-Friendly Guide
Jay McGavren - 2015-11-30
Goodreads Rating
Learn everything you need to know about the buzzed-about Ruby language with Head First Ruby. Say goodbye to extra declarations and keywords and hello to a more productive programming experience. Based on the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory, this visually rich book uses a hands-on approach to help you understand Ruby's details with ease. Get ready to have fun and get more done with less code.
The Rails 5 Way book cover
The Rails 5 Way
Obie Fernandez - 2017-11-14
Goodreads Rating
This comprehensive guide is the "Bible" for Ruby on Rails development, covering the entire Rails 5 API, design approaches, and libraries. With detailed code examples, you'll learn how to build powerful, scalable, and secure back-end services, implement advanced techniques with Active Record, and enhance front-end functionality with ActionView. This book is proven in thousands of production systems and will maximize your productivity and help you build successful solutions.
Agile Web Development with Rails 6 book cover
Agile Web Development with Rails 6
Sam Ruby - 2020-03-17
Goodreads Rating
This updated edition of a classic guide provides step-by-step guidance for learning Ruby on Rails 6 – the way the Rails core team recommends – from building a real application to advanced customization. With coverage of new features and best practices, you'll gain insider information whether you're new to Rails or an experienced developer. Test your applications, incorporate Ajax and JavaScript, and deploy your apps with ease. All you need is a computer to get started!
Agile Web Development with Rails 5.1 by Sam Ruby
Ruby Under a Microscope by Pat Shaughnessy
Rails AntiPatterns by Chad Pytel / Tammer Saleh Pytel / Saleh
Ruby Way, The by Hal Fulton
Ruby Cookbook by Lucas Carlson
Beginning Ruby by Peter Cooper
Design Patterns in Ruby by Russ Olsen
Rails by Glenn Goodrich
The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas
Refactoring by Jay Fields
Rails 5 Test Prescriptions by Noel Rappin
Learn to Program, Second Edition by Chris Pine
Effective Ruby by Peter J. Jones
Learn to Program 2nd (second) edition Text Only by Chris Pine
Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial by Michael Hartl
Ruby Pocket Reference by Michael Fitzgerald
Rails 4 in Action by Ryan Bigg
Learn Ruby the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw
Ruby For Beginners by Icode Academy
Beginning Rails 6 by Brady Somerville, Adam Gamble, Cloves Carneiro Jr., Rida Al Barazi
The Little Book Of Ruby Programming by Huw Collingbourne
The RSpec Book by David Chelimsky
Intro To Ruby Programming by John Elder
Ruby by Robert Dwight
Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
Ruby Best Practices by Gregory T Brown
Component-Based Rails Applications by Stephan Hagemann
Learning Rails 5 by J. Mark Locklear
Ruby on Rails 5.0 for Autodidacts by Stefan Wintermeyer