Learn to Program
by Chris Pine · first published 2009
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Simple, easy-to-read introduction to programming that uses Ruby and gets learners into interactive exercises quickly; recommended for complete beginners, including non-programmers, before moving on to Rails.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Relevant enough question IMHO, despite the downvotes. Chris Pine's book Learn to Program has a good reputation, and it tackles both of your goals: learning to program, and learning Ruby. The second edition is set to be released in five days. http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Pragmatic-Programmers-Ch... http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
on “The Ruby Reading List” ↗I strongly suggest Learn to Program by Chris Pine. http://pragprog.com/book/ltp2/learn-to-program I saw a non-technical friend go through it in the course of about a month last year. Though the book doesn't teach in Python, it does teach…
on “Ask HN: Best Intro Programming Book?” ↗I read all of those and would like to add two more: 1) Learn to Program, by Chris Pine. It's the best book I've read on learning to program in any language. 2) Practical Ruby Projects: Ideas for the Eclectic Programmer, by Topher Cyll. In a sense it wasn't "practical" at…
on “Ruby on Rails in a week” ↗> Learn to Program, by Chris Pine My first programming book, 10 years ago in a few months I think. Great read.
on “Ruby on Rails in a week” ↗The "best way" depends on your current skills, really. Ordered by increasing levels of programming skill, I'd say you should start with one of the following: 1. Learn to Program by Chris Pine 2. Everyday Scripting with Ruby by Brian Marick 3. Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide by David Thomas and Andrew Hunt An excellent book to build your skills and internalize…
on “Ask HN: I want to learn Ruby ” ↗…that you have in mind...better off to outsource the development or partner with a developer & focus on marketing, sales and other revenue generating If you want to become a programmer, check out book "Learn to Program" by Chris Pine. Be warned though, its not just RoR you will need to learn but also database design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript at the very minimum before you will really be able to do anything.
on “Where to learn Ruby on Rails” ↗I started learning Ruby and Ruby on Rails a few months ago. I've found it much easier to learn the basics of Ruby before diving into Rails. I started with reading Learn to Program by Chris Pines. The book is aimed at someone new to programming. Does a great explaining programming and Ruby.
on “Ruby on Rails Tutorial, 2nd edition” ↗There is also "Learn to Program" by Chris Pine [http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/]. The book is an easy read, moves along well, and best of all, the entire book in one huge Ruby script, so you can dig in there after you are done reading…
on “How to become a programmer” ↗Hm, I've introduced Ruby programming to a couple of non-programmers and thought the book "Learn To Program" by Chris Pine was good. It doesn't assume much and starts from the beginning. It's very hands-on, ie, not much theory, but if there's someone available to answer the inevitable questions I thought it…
on “Ask HN: Programming Curriculum for Non-Geeks?” ↗Hey there, I've (re)learned to program over the course of the past year, listening to what your've said these are three books I think can help: Start with Learn To Program 2nd edition as it will get you familiar with programming concepts. (I worked halfway through this book before I realized I understood most all of it) http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Program-Second-Facets-Ruby/dp/19...…
on “Ask HN: Learning 2 Hack - For the very first time. With a deadline.” ↗Here's another good Ruby book: 'Learn to Program', by Chris Pine: http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
on “List of freely available programming books” ↗Your first stop should be to Rails for Zombies (http://railsforzombies.org/), buy Michael Hartl's book Ruby on Rails Tutorial (http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book), Learn to Program by Chris Pine (http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/) and also start learning Ruby (http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby/programming-ruby). Also, sign up to GitHub and Heroku, locate Ruby and/or Rails meetups close…
on “Ask HN: learning Ruby/Rails” ↗The best resource I've seen is the Pragmatic Bookshelf Learn to Program, by Chris Pine. A good friend of mine who had no programming background whatsoever went through that book this August, enjoyed it and made great progress. It was enough that he found himself writing…
on “How can I learn to program? ” ↗I was thinking much the same thing. If I ever find myself in the position of wanting to teach programming to a "mere mortal", I suspect I'd look to Chris Pine's Learn to Program, which I've always heard good things about. http://pragprog.com/book/ltp2/learn-to-program
on “Programming for Mere Mortals” ↗If you're looking for free books, I'm a big fan of Chris Pine's Learn to Program and Eloquent Javascript. Both have online versions and EJ's online version is far better than a paper book, due to its console. As far as sites teaching coding, I'm a fan of http://www.codeschool.com/…
on “Codecademy closes $10M round” ↗