Bob, one commenter, suggested Ruby Quiz as another great source to help learn Ruby.

Ruby Quiz posts different problems, which I believe are a little harder than Code Golf, but it has one great advantage. After trying the problem yourself you can look at other’s solutions to the problem. this may help you notice different methods that you have not yet thought of, and may help you learn more about syntax, and functions that are not as readily documented. This can also be a great source for code snippets, but remember to give credit where credit is due.

I have used Ruby Quiz in my pursuit of knowledge, but forgot to place it in my first article. Thanks, Bob, for your suggestion.

I have found the perfect way to learn ruby. Code Golf! Now I know those of you out there who know about Code Golf, and about programming are thinking, OMG what is this guy thinking, but bear with me.

I’m not suggesting try to learn to program by sitting down and actually trying to write your code in the smallest number of bytes possible. That just creates unreadable code that is a nightmare to trouble shoot. Just use the functionality of Code Golf to help you.

I have a terrible time just reading a programming book and getting anything out of it. I have to have a project to code. Something small that can be done quickly, and I can learn a little at a time. Code Golf does exactly that for me. Each of their problems gives me something to work on.

The best part is, Code Golf checks my answer. It reminds me a lot of a TA in college, but you don’t have to pay to have them look at your code output. You code, and submit, and there is imediate feedback if your answer doesn’t match the expected output. Granted it doesn’t grade your code, and tell you about coding conventions, but every output must be precise.

May I remind you that you can just output the entire answer, but it won’t do you much good, and if you have no experience with programming this may be a tough way to start.