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.

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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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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I wanted to acknowledge that @davetron5000.com says that the new version of Sustainable Web Development with Ruby on Rails covering 8.1 (sustainable-rails.com) will be the last. This is a great book, I've recommended it often, and I'm sad to see it end. (Though I understand why). Thanks, Dave!

_The Raven Scholar_, a book that is going to be very, very prominently featured in my year-end book post is $2.99 today amzn.to/4rLvY4i Really, if you like fantasy at all and aren't deterred by 600 pages of book one of a trilogy, this one is very good.

I had an incredible time at SF Ruby Conference! The venue, talks, and conversations were all top tier. See why in this blog! ✨ www.chael.codes/blog/2025/11... #sfruby #sfruby2025

The sale is still ongoing!

It's time for the big @pragprog.com Black Friday sale! This year, 50% off with code "save50" -- I think this is the biggest sale in Prag Bookshelf history! Ends December 1st. Go to media.pragprog.com/newsletters/... for more info.

I note as I edit the Ruby/Lisp post that _Gödel, Escher, Bach_, published in 1979, has, as I type this, an Amazon rank under 5,000. It's been decades since I read it, I wonder if the AI parts hold up.

And here's the Ruby and Lisp post: noelrappin.com/blog/2025/11... I suppose I should call it `(post (and "Ruby" "Lisp))` -- no, actually, I probably very much should not do that. And if you subscribe to the newsletter you can get this in your inbox.

And here's the Ruby and Lisp post: noelrappin.com/blog/2025/11... I suppose I should call it `(post (and "Ruby" "Lisp))` -- no, actually, I probably very much should not do that. And if you subscribe to the newsletter you can get this in your inbox.

I note as I edit the Ruby/Lisp post that _Gödel, Escher, Bach_, published in 1979, has, as I type this, an Amazon rank under 5,000. It's been decades since I read it, I wonder if the AI parts hold up.

Two good articles about #Ruby and #Smalltalk 1️⃣ Noel Rappin @noelrappin.com - Ruby And Its Neighbors: Smalltalk I learned a bit more about Smalltalk from this article, which goes into detail about the main innovations that Smalltalk had:

Strong recommendaction for Eloquent Ruby pragprog.com/titles/eruby....

It's time for the big @pragprog.com Black Friday sale! This year, 50% off with code "save50" -- I think this is the biggest sale in Prag Bookshelf history! Ends December 1st. Go to media.pragprog.com/newsletters/... for more info.

It's now official that the next version of Ruby is going to be 4.0 github.com/ruby/ruby/co... We're working to get a beta of Programming Ruby 4.0 available about the time of the release with up-to-the minute changes for the new version.

There's like one gem in our ecosystem that blocks required_ruby_version and it's a huge pain in the neck for basically no gain.

Well, while doing research for the next Ruby and its Neighbors article (this one's about Lisp), I fell down a rabbit hole that ended up with me finding one of my freshman professors on LinkedIn...

Yay!

It's official! The beta release of Eloquent Ruby, 2nd edition is now on sale! pragprog.com/titles/eruby...

Less than two weeks to SF Ruby -- I'd love to see you there. The speaker list is amazing: sfruby.com/speakers/ Tickets on sale at: luma.com/sfrubyconf2025 Sign up for my workshop "The Dynamic Ruby Toolkit" at: luma.com/ekzvr472

A companion article to the Perl article is now up: Ruby and its Neighbors: Smalltalk. Come for the OO stuff, stay for probably one two many asides about programming in the 90s.. noelrappin.com/blog/2025/11... Also, you can subscribe at buttondown.com/noelrap to get this via email..

Also, I used Ruby refinements today for what I think is the first time in actual production code, and I'm not sure what that means but I think it means something.

A companion article to the Perl article is now up: Ruby and its Neighbors: Smalltalk. Come for the OO stuff, stay for probably one two many asides about programming in the 90s.. noelrappin.com/blog/2025/11... Also, you can subscribe at buttondown.com/noelrap to get this via email..

I am so excited for this book, it's so great!

Putting the finishing touches on the beta release of 2nd edition of Eloquent Ruby, which should be available sometime in the next couple of weeks. This has been a long, long journey but the finish line is at least out there on the horizon. I mean, who writes a book with 746 separate code examples?

A definite downside of working from home in a basement: A spider just came down from the ceiling and drifted between me and my monitor.

Come join me at SF Ruby, I think the program looks great!

Today is the last day to grab a GA ticket for SF Ruby! Read our new blog post for a preview: evilmartians.com/chronicles/w...

Here are some good #Ruby articles from last week that you should read: 1️⃣ @noelrappin.com's article about "Ruby and Its Neighbors: Perl." noelrappin.com/blog/2025/1... I like this exploration of Perl and how it has influenced Ruby syntax, highlighting both similarities and differences.

This is a great text by @noelrappin.com. Approachable, thorough where thoroughness is needed, and (pun!) incredibly pragmatic. It’s a great choice for if you’re looking to make your Rails front end able really high-quality.

I do still enjoy being the subject line article in Ruby Weekly... rubyweekly.com/issues/771 For the Perl newsletter: noelrappin.com/blog/2025/10...

40% off w code Pragpicks Improve the user experience for your Rails app with rich, engaging client-side interactions. It’s easier than ever to build user interactions with Hotwire, Turbo, and Stimulus. pragprog.com/titles/... @noelrappin.com

As usual, the weird thing about a newsletter is that subscribers generally come in at random, while un-subscribers tend to cluster right after you release a new newsletter, and some people go "why am I subscribed to that thing again?" Anyway, subscribe at buttondown.com/noelrap

And here's a newsletter/blog post noelrappin.com/blog/2025/10... Part one of a likely two-part series about the languages that influenced Ruby. This time, Perl, with all of its shortcuts and syntax quirks. The things Ruby took and the things Ruby left behind...

New Pragmatic Picks: Code PragPicks to save 40% (today only!) 📘 Agile Retrospectives, 2nd Ed 📕 Effective Go Recipes 📗 From Ruby to Elixir 📙 Modern Front End Development for Rails links in 🧵 @estherderby.bsky.social @tebeka.bsky.social @noelrappin.com

Hello, Ruby World! sfruby.com

You can still get $50 off the price of a ticket to SF Ruby at luma.com/sfrubyconf20... Bringing the price to $300. This is a great program, and I'd love to see you there (and I'd love to see you in my workshop!)

Here I am thinking about a newsletter post about Perl and it's influence on Ruby, I go to the TIOBE page to see when Perl peaked, and did you know that Perl is back to the top 10 in TIOBE? As far as I can tell, this is kind of an artifact of their algorithm rather than real growth, but still...

Here's a coupon for $50 off the admission fee for SF Ruby (sfruby.com) luma.com/sfrubyconf20... I'll be doing a workshop on Dynamic Ruby, and even if you don't want to see that, there is a full slate of great speakers -- I'd love to see you there.