Reviews for Practical Ruby for System Administration (Expert's Voice in Open Source)

1. The Best Second Book for Sysadmins New To Ruby

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2008

   It does not teach you Ruby, so you should buy a book specifically for that. Instead, this book explains how to use Ruby for those things that a sysadmin needs to do. The combination of well-chosen topics and great practical insights means that you will keep coming back to this book, after you have outgrown your others.
   
   Each chapter is based on examples, which are used to start broader explanations of issues that matter. The writing has the clarity and focus that only comes from an author with real experience of their subject. For example, the author recognizes that performance is one of the first questions that new users will ask, and opens the book with the best discussion of Ruby performance that I have seen.
   
   My only criticism is that it is too short! Each section gives you an excellent overview, and provides the essential bits of information so well that you'll be disappointed when it ends, and wish that the author had written more. Even so, it will probably take a long time for you to exhaust this book.

2. Insightful and well paced

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2007

   Coming from an almost Rubyless background this book does an excellent job of reminding the reader of the basics that might have been forgotten through demonstrating useful and clever ways of leveraging these ideas into every day situations, as well as introducing new concepts through clear examples that one can readily apply to a variety of common administration problems. The writing is upbeat and flows well, conveying ideas concisely without slipping into excessive depth and boring the reader.
   I would reccomend this book to people who are interested in seeing what Ruby is capable of outside a sandbox environment and also to anyone who has sat at their desktop pasting and ammending dozens of minor commands which could be far more efficiently automated through script.

3. An amusing and well-focussed book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2007

   This book:
   1. Moves along at about the right pace for me to get everything without getting bored with anything;
   2. Is full of amusing digressions, which help to stop it getting bogged-down in technicalities;
   3. Addresses the important things in the right order; and
   4. Name-checks me in the acknowledgements.
   
   What's not to like?
   
   If you're a sysadmin looking to make your life easier - grab this. If you aren't, but want to see how technical books should be written - grab this.