[oak perl] Review of Ruby Pocket Reference

[George Woolley]

On Monday 27 August 2007 00:58, Steve K wrote:
> On Sun, 2007-08-26 at 14:01 -0700, George Woolley wrote:
> > hi all,
> > there's a review of 'ruby pocket reference'
> > on our site at:   http://www.metaart.org/opug/reviews/rubypr.html
> > should you wish to take a look at it.
> >
> > if you have comments or corrections,
> > great.
> > - george
> >
==================================

> George,
>
> A couple of small comments about your review.  And I am in no way
> competent to criticize reviews, never having sold any.  Perhaps my
> thoughts echo some you have already considered.
>
> a) I know a good bit of Ruby, but not all.  When I want a good
> reference,I get the 1st edition of the Pickaxe book.   The 2nd edition
> (Thomas, Fowler, Hunt) lacks the tightness of the  first edition (Thomas
> & Hunt).
>
> b) Did the pocket reference explain Ruby Iterators?   That was the
> single feature which sold me on Ruby, as soon as I began to understand
> it.
> The Pickaxes did a poor job on them, and they are very important.
>
> c) Did the pocket reference resolve the question of how to test files?
> Ie: is this a file or a directory.  What is its permission and filedate.
> The early pickaxe made it foggily clear there were several ways to do
> these tests, but offered little guidance on which methods to use.
> Neither Pickaxe has done that adequately, in my opinion.
>
> Steve K
>
>
> PS: I'm thinking about making Moose my favorite Perl module.  It
> implements perl objects with a clean new syntax that hides the instance
> hashes and reference/dereference fog generators.     Hard as heck to get
> it installed, but very pleasing one you get it in.
>
> Steve Kolupaev
=================================

hi steve,
thanks for the comments 
and for explicitly marking them a), b) and c).
i'll respond with the same markings.

a) if someone wants a longer reference,
i suggest seriously considering the pickaxe book.
if anyone doesn't find language pocket references useful,
i'd not get the ruby pocket reference.

b) re the matter brought up in this point,
the ruby pocket reference contains:
* a general description of each in the glossary.
* a number of descriptions of each type methods 
   in the various method lists
* descriptions of many other methods that might 
   be viewed as iterators.

does the pocket reference explain iterators?
not as i'd expect a pocket guide, 
a tutorial or a full reference to.

c) there is a subsection on file inquiries.
it explains wiith examples the tests you mention
plus some others.  

- george

p.s. i hope to hear more about moose 
at the september meeting.

p.p.s. i thought what you said about the pickaxe books
was quite interesting.
is there any chance 
you'd write a review of the first edition? <<<