It's time for the somewhat-awaited annual book post, a tradition unlike any other...
noelrappin.com/blog/2026/03...
It's kinda long this year, but I really did extra-love my top two books of the year, so maybe at least scroll to the end?
You can see from the cover that we have a new forward form @matz.bsky.social
The Pickaxe. One of this week's Pragprog Top 5.
Learn Ruby from the 6th edition of the book that first introduced Matz’s amazing language to the world.
(And this weekend, 40% off with code KNITTING)
@noelrappin.com with Dave Thomas
pragprog.com/titles/ruby6
I've been saying forever that Concrete would make an amazing TV series.
While we wait for that, you should check out the original stories.
When I first saw the title One Battle After Another, it played in my head to this tune. That hasn’t stopped. (I’m not well.)
youtu.be/PKUGIq71l7Y
What I want to do is build out my own kind of specific CLI tool (kind of like Claude Code, user enters commands, main section shows results). I've been going back and forth on what tooling works, Phlex-ish sounds good to me
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I would use this yesterday
@pragprog.com says 43% Off everything with coupon code "Brrr".
Including Programming Ruby 4 (pragprog.com/titles/ruby6...)
Workshops from 2025 SF Ruby Conference are now live. These include:
- @tonsoffun.bsky.social on building AI agents with Rails
- Brandon Shar, @skryukov.dev, and Brian Knoles on Inertia Rails
- @kaspth.com on upskilling your team
- @noelrappin.com on Ruby’s dynamism to your advantage
I haven't mentioned it yet here, but Programming Ruby 4.0 does have a new beta out that runs all code against Ruby 4.0.0 final, and also covers Minitest 6.0 and a couple of other late breaking changes:
pragprog.com/titles/ruby6...
Happy to announce that I'm joining as a member of the Board of Directors for @rubycentral.org!
www.linkedin.com/posts/keysto...
This Dave Berg strip is from MAD Magazine issue 316. In the strip, Nick Meglin and John Ficarra are talking to Charlie Kadau. Nick say "Charlie, the reason we didn't give you a promotion is because you're so indecisive." John adds "Do you disagree?" Charlie responds "Well, yes and no..." In the background, other staffers (and I) watch the discussion. We really ought to mind our own business. Bill Gaines -- who recently passed away -- appears in a picture hanging on the wall. I think this may have been the first time he appeared as portrait in a Lighter Side strip.
My new profile pic is from an old issue of MAD Magazine where I popped up in Dave Berg's "The Lighter Side Of..."
Also, in news that will intrigue at least one or two of you, I actually managed to do mini book reviews as I read books in 2025, meaning my 2025 "Books I Liked" post, which traditionally comes out in, like, April, may actually come out in January.
The next beta of the book, which runs all code under Ruby 4.0 will come out this week. We'll have another one or two later this month with cleanup and any very late-breaking changes.
I think this is still going on for another day or two, and yes, Programming Ruby 4.0 qualifies:
pragprog.com/titles/ruby6...
We just had our biggest day in StoryGraph history! Thanks for joining, we have big plans for 2026!
Pause. Reflect. Imagine what’s next.
Use New Year's code INSIGHT to save 40%
pragprog.com
Just published this year's version of my "Ruby Changes" project: a full annotated changelog for Ruby 4.0:
rubyreferences.github.io/rubychanges/...
Goals: Full, comprehensive, concise, well-structured.
Examples, explanations of reasons, links to docs, all of it.
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Working on this book is so much fun, and I'm glad for the opportunity to keep doing it and I hope that you all like it.
Thanks!
@tenderlove.dev did a very helpful review of the new Ractor section, and @joel.drapper.me did a very helpful review of the new Literal section.
But this is still a beta, and there's still some work to do once the release is final.
Thanks to @matz.bsky.social for the new release, to @pragdave.bsky.social for... well for lots of things, but specifically for the cover and for lots of help getting this out the door quickly. Thanks to my editor Katie Dvorak, and everybody at @pragprog.com
Plus:
Did you know that Pragmatic has a Redbubble swag store?
They've temporarily lowered prices as far as Redbuble will let them and added new designs with the new Pickaxe cover and a collection of all six Pickaxe covers:
www.redbubble.com/people/PragP...
In addition to new language features
* Lots new in the threading chapter, including Ractor updates and a section on concurrent-ruby and Async
* The typed Ruby chapter has a section on Literal
* Lots of small cleanups and updates
Hey! I'm very excited to announce!
We've got a brand new Programming Ruby 4.0 out just in time for the upcoming release:
pragprog.com/titles/ruby6...
Obviously this is a beta release (written off of RC2), but there will be a second beta right on the heels of the release next week.
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