Worthwhile to upgrade my Ruby Pickaxe book?

Question

I have Programming Ruby, The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition which covers Ruby 1.8. It has been several years since I have programmed in Ruby, but I'd like to refresh my memory and bring my knowledge current.

With most programming languages, I've found that I can skip books that only concern a single version bump. Yet, Ruby is a young language and I understand there may have been significant changes in 1.9.

Although I already have the second edition, is it worthwhile to buy the third edition for Ruby 1.9? Are the differences that vast, or will it be simple enough to catch up to 1.9 with the online docs?

Answer 1

I bought it and I'm glad I did, though there isn't much you couldn't find by searching online. Depends if you like having everything in one book.

Answer 2

I considered doing the same thing, and decided to keep reading my 2nd edition pickaxe. I ended up rarely opening the book and relying on online resources. Although, I like to learn a language by using existing programs and diving into the source code, as I find that more effective than flipping pages.

Answer 3

I have the old one bought for learning Ruby (and I am glad that I had done that), I have decided to buy the new edition only as an electronic book (in PDF and epub for my iPod Touch). It was the right decision for me, because I will not again read it from front cover to the end, but I like to have it near me as a reference, if I need it. And it is nice to show it to students in my forthcoming ruby lecture at the university :-)