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Tech Book Face Off: Design Patterns in Ruby Vs. Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby

I've been in a good book-reading mood lately, so I'm writing up yet another Tech Book Face Off. This time I wanted to dig into some more Ruby books, since I've felt like I still have much to learn about this wonderful programming language. I also wanted to work on writing better organized programs, so I targeted some books on program design. The books on deck are Design Patterns in Ruby by Russ Olsen and Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby by Sandi Metz. Let's see how they compare with each other and with some of the other books I've read on design.

Design Patterns in Ruby front coverVS.Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby front cover

Tech Book Face Off: Pragmatic Thinking and Learning Vs. How the Brain Learns

To work and succeed as a programmer, it is necessary to constantly learn new things. The faster and better you can learn new tools, new technologies, and new techniques, the more effective you can be as a programmer. On a personal level, I also have a fascination with learning. What are the best ways to learn new things? What can I do in a practical sense to learn more efficiently? How does the brain process, store, and recall new experiences, anyway? I've felt like I've always been a fairly adept learner, but I've never done any amount of research into how I could do even better. These are the questions I set out to answer while reading through two books on how to learn: Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt and How the Brain Learns by David A. Sousa. Let's see what secrets these books reveal about how to learn better… faster… smarter.

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning front coverVS.How the Brain Learns front cover