I just picked it up at the local bookstore yesterday afternoon, and  
so far it looks really good ... and big. I checked some of the  
recipes on things I already know and they seem proper, which just  
boosts my confidence in it :-).

I like the format of the recipes. The Problem statement is really  
concise, followed by a Solution section, then a Discussion of larger  
issues and consequences, and sometimes a See Also section. That works  
well, and in browsing so far I have found good incidental information  
that way. At my stage of Ruby usage (10-11 months of full-time  
development of several different projects in a commercial setting),  
knowing about all the incidental cool solutions that others have  
created is the next leap in productivity.

Also, in contrast to the GoF patterns format, I find this one easier  
to digest. We'll see how that holds up since one of the best usages  
of the GoF book was referring back to the Consequences section to  
make sure that my designs using a particular pattern didn't hold any  
forgotten gotchas.

Nice work on the Roman numeral recipe. That was really fun to read  
because we use simple Roman numeral math as a programming interview  
question.

All in all, I am looking forward to having this by my side I think it  
will be very useful. Good job guys.

Bob


On Aug 2, 2006, at 4:08 AM, Morton Goldberg wrote:

> Anyone care to post their first impressions on Ruby Cookbook? I  
> haven't seen it yet. I'd like hear what others think of it before  
> buying or not.
>
> Regards, Morton
>
>
>