On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 23:36:45 GMT, SomeDude wrote:

> I'm interested in learning programming and have messed around with PHP for a 
> little while.  I've been hearing a lot about Ruby/Ruby On Rails.  I'm 
> interested in a language for an absolute beginner...is Ruby/Ruby On Rails a 
> good way to go or are there better languages for starters? 

Ruby is probably a good choice, perhaps an excellent one. Having had only
Basic background, Ruby made sense to me, when neither Python nor Pascal
did. I still don't fully get OO yet, but it hasn't stopped me from using
Ruby to write various "for own use" utlities that I use for my work. I'm a
fairly "un-mathematical" person and Ruby was still accessible to me. I
think that qualifies it as a language for everyone,

A good book for a true beginner is "Teach Yourself Ruby in 21 Days" by Mark
Slagell. You could also wait for Chris Pine's upcoming beginner book. Later
on you'll want Dave Thomas' "Programming Ruby", 2nd Ed., and possibly Hal
Fulton's "The Ruby Way" (the former is -the- reference, the latter
continues nicely where Mark's book ends).

M.