Ruby Wizardry An Introduction to Programming for Kids

The Ruby programming language is perfect for beginners: easy to learn, powerful, and fun to use! But wouldn't it be more fun if you were learning with the help of some wizards and dragons?

Ruby Wizardry is a playful, illustrated tale that will teach you how to program in Ruby by taking you on a fantastical journey. As you follow the adventures of young heroes Ruben and Scarlet, you’ll learn real programming skills, like how to:
–Use fundamental concepts like variables, symbols, arrays, and strings
–Work with Ruby hashes to create a programmable breakfast menu
–Control program flow with loops and conditionals to help the Royal Plumber
–Test your wild and crazy ideas in IRB and save your programs as scripts
–Create a class of mini-wizards, each with their own superpower!
–Organize and reuse your code with methods and lists
–Write your own amazing interactive stories using Ruby

Along the way, you’ll meet colorful characters from around the kingdom, like the hacker Queen, the Off-White Knight, and Wherefore the minstrel. Ruby Wizardry will have you (or your little wizard) hooked on programming in no time.

For ages 10+ (and their parents!)

Eric Weinstein has helped millions of people learn to program through Codecademy, where he designed and authored the Ruby curriculum and contributed courses on Python, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and PHP. He has also taught creative writing to undergraduates and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at NYU, where he was a Veterans Writing Workshop Fellow. He writes Ruby for a living in New York City.

Foreword by Steve Klabnik
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: What This Book’s About
Chapter 2: The King and His String
Chapter 3: Pipe Dreams
Chapter 4: Staying in the Loop
Chapter 5: Array of Sunshine and Hash on the Range
Chapter 6: The (Chunky) Bacon to Ruby’s Hash
Chapter 7: The Magic of Methods and Blocks
Chapter 8: Everything Is an Object (Almost)
Chapter 9: Inheriting the Magic of Ruby
Chapter 10: A Horse of a Different Color
Chapter 11: Second Time’s the Charm
Chapter 12: Reading, Writing, and Ruby Magic
Chapter 13: Follow the WEBrick Road
Chapter 14: Where to Go Next
Appendix A: Installing Ruby on Mac and Linux
Appendix B: Troubleshooting
Index