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Ruby for Linguistics
By an Amazon.com customer
Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second EditionProgramming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition by Dave Thomas
Buy new: $29.67 / Used from: $4.76
This book is a must-have. Usually known simply as The Pickaxe Book, it's basically the Ruby Bible and I know few Ruby programmers who don't have a copy on their desk.
The Ruby Programming LanguageThe Ruby Programming Language by David Flanagan
Buy new: $26.39 / Used from: $8.64
This is the new Ruby Bible, from Matz himself, which covers version 1.8 and 1.9 of the language. It's a must-have for serious Rubyists.
The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition)The Ruby Way, Second Edition: Solutions and Techniques in Ruby Programming (2nd Edition) by Hal Fulton
Buy new: $31.49 / Used from: $20.00
This is another must-have. One of its advantages is that it is very clearly organized, making it easier to look up specific topics of interest (e.g., set operations). It's a nice marriage of manual and cookbook.
Learning RubyLearning Ruby by Michael Fitzgerald Dr
Buy new: $23.09 / Used from: $2.17
The other books in this series are great, so I had reasonably high expectations for Learning Ruby. Frankly, I was disappointed. The book is a bit thin (275 pages), but that's not the real problem. (After all, the first edition of the classic Learning Perl was only 274 pages.) The problem is that the book covers less material than it could in those pages and feels rushed to press.
Enterprise Integration with RubyEnterprise Integration with Ruby by Maik Schmidt
Buy new: $25.04 / Used from: $1.12
This book is handy. It covers various things that you might want to know about if you're doing text processing: databases, XML, logging, etc. It assumes you already have some Ruby under your belt and want to gain more practical skills in a few select areas.
Ruby Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))Ruby Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) by Lucas Carlson
Buy new: $31.49 / Used from: $4.97
The O'Reilly cookbook isn't bad, but I find it's coverage of topics to be somewhat idiosyncratic. (When I want to look up a very specific task, I often find myself consulting The Ruby Way instead.) Hopefully the selection of recipes will be re-examined for future editions.