On Apr 13, 2005, at 9:57 AM, Sy wrote:

> Fine.  I like Ruby.  I want to learn Ruby.  How do I work on the
> problem of motivation?

That's a pretty personal issue and I doubt I have any helpful advice.

When I was younger, I wanted to do all my programming projects with my 
friends, who were only lightly interested.  We never really completed 
anything.  One day, I just got tired of that and started working on 
things alone (when I couldn't get help) and getting things done.  I 
don't know what changed; something just snapped internally.  You have 
to have to find the motivation for yourself and just dive in!

On the positive side, I do think it gets easier the more you do.  When 
I build something and see how perfect it came out (yes, I have an ego 
problem), I feel like I can do anything and I want to, right now!  I'm 
working on as many programming projects as I can possibly juggle while 
still leaving a little room for sleep and I have ideas for my next 604 
projects.  You just have to get the ball rolling...

> Hack a little every day?  Read a little every day?  What books, what
> tutorials, what news channels?

In my opinion, there is one true secret to learning to program.  Ready? 
  Here comes all my ancient wisdom in one rule:

Write code.

Yes, I read a lot of books and yes they really help.  However, it's my 
opinion that there is simply no substitute for quality time spent 
talking to a compiler.  For me, that's the key.

(When you get more experienced the rule changes to "Read code.", but 
that's another topic...)

> Has anyone thought about founding a "Ruby nubie" mailing list or
> creating nubie-sized short-tutorials, quizzes and challenges?

Not really an answer to your question, but I welcome beginner quiz 
material submissions to Ruby Quiz.  Next week's quiz is a nice early 
project, I think.  Everyone is welcome to send in more.

Good luck and I hope you find what you're looking for!

James Edward Gray II