"Programming Ruby, Second Edition" Released by Pragmatic Bookshelf

"Programming Ruby": Everyone's Favorite Language

Raleigh, NC--In four short years, the Ruby programming language has gone
from an unknown upstart to a major player in the programmer's world,
thanks due in part to a book known as "the Pickaxe."

Named for the picture of a pickaxe on the cover, the Pragmatic
Programmers' original edition quickly became a favorite among
forward-thinking programmers. The Ruby language was beginning to get
noticed, and the Pickaxe was helping programmers all over the world learn
and leverage this excellent language.

Says Dave Thomas, "We're seeing Ruby show up everywhere. There are
several companies that use Ruby exclusively for their clients; it's being
widely used in the testing community to drive other languages; it's being
featured at major conferences, and often shows up in examples in magazine
columns and articles."

In "Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, 2nd Edition"
(Pragmatic Bookshelf, US $44.95, 0-9745140-5-5), author Dave Thomas
expands this ground-breaking book with over 200 pages of new material, and
complete update for the latest version 1.8 of Ruby.

The Pickaxe contains four major sections:
-An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby.
-The definitive reference to the language.
-Complete documentation of all built-in classes, modules, and methods.
-Complete descriptions of all 98 standard libraries.

Readers of the first edition will appreciate the new and expanded content,
including enhanced coverage of installation, packaging, documenting Ruby
source code, threading and synchronization, and enhancing Ruby's
capabilities using C-language extensions. Programming for the world-wide
web is easy in Ruby with new chapters on XML/RPC, SOAP, distributed Ruby,
templating systems and other web services. There's even a new chapter on
unit testing.

Reviewer Praise
"Ruby is a wonderfully powerful and useful language, and whenever I'm
working with it this book is at my side."
--Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks

"This book changed my life. Sounds rather cliched, but it's the truth.
After six years and 300,000 lines of Java code, I needed a change. That
change occurred upon reading the first edition of this book. With the
support of a solid community and ever-growing foundation of superb
libraries, I founded a company that largely profits from applying Ruby
to solve real-world problems. Ruby is ready for primetime, and this new
version of the PickAxe will show a waiting world what a gem Ruby really is."
--Rich Kilmer, President & CEO, InfoEther LLC

"Ruby is one of those great languages that takes an afternoon to start
using, and years (maybe a lifetime) to master. 'Programming Ruby' is the
essential reference to the Ruby language. More than just teaching you the
syntax, it teaches you the spirit and the feel of the language."
--Ben Giddings

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide, Second Edition
By Dave Thomas, with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt
ISBN 0-9745140-5-5, 864 pages, $44.95US, $65.95CA, softcover.

Pragmatic Bookshelf titles are distributed to bookstores internationally
by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Additional Resources:

Sample chapters, table of contents, and more information is available on
the book's home page:
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/title/ruby/index.html

About Pragmatic Bookshelf
The Pragmatic Bookshelf features books written by developers for
developers. The titles continue the well-known Pragmatic Programmer style,
and continue to garner awards and rave reviews. As development gets more
and more difficult, the Pragmatic Programmers will be there with more
titles and products to help programmers stay on top of their game.
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/

Contacts
Press and Editorial Queries Only:
Andy Hunt or Dave Thomas
Pragmatic Bookshelf
800-699-7764 (919-847-3884)
pragprog@pragmaticprogrammer.com