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lucraft
Just read the sample pages and already learned something I am going to start using.
listrophy
After seeing Avdi talk about this at Ruby on Ales, I've started using `fail` almost exclusively instead of `raise.`

It's the little things.

umjames
I quick check of the Ruby documentation (http://www.ruby-doc.org/core/) suggests that raise and fail are the same method.

Is there an actual difference between these methods?

avdi
Nope! It's strictly a style issue. As I explain in the video (or the book if you buy it), as a result of a conversation with Jim Weirich I'm starting to use "fail" once again.
zizzler
Bought the book, found out Ruby has retry. Money well spent.
bstar
Thanks zizzler, now I don't need to buy the book ;-)
codenerdz
Wow, the timing could not be more perfect as Im trying to deal with a validate_uniqueness race condition :)
codenerdz
P.S. Just for that, im buying the book...
tomfakes
validate_uniqueness is a system that is completely broken once you have more than 1 ruby process running against the same database. It just can't work the way you want it to.

You must add constraints to the database and handle the resulting exceptions to ensure unique values.

They really need to kill validate_uniqueness since it is so totally broken

mossity
is it too late to suggest an epigraph?

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

telemachos
I'm loving the recent explosion in self-published books, but as a (general) request: they are so, so much more useful when they come in multiple formats (mobi, epub and pdf).
hiperlink
What to say when comment upvote counts are gone. Can't upvote this enough. (For me, mobi prefered.)
telemachos
Me as well. And pdfs tend to look/read very poorly on a Kindle (especially if they contain code blocks).
jcoby
FWIW we (getdpd.com) totally agree and are working on adding this feature to our system soon. Vendors will be able to upload the file variants themselves or we will do the conversion on the backend.
avdi
As I'm usingn DPD for this book, I'm happy to hear that!

P.S. Would you mind getting in touch with me? I have a script to share with you guys.

molecule
+1 .mobi for kindle

avdi: let me know if you'd like any help packing a .mobi, I'm working on a quick-tutorial post.

avdi
As I replied above, I'll probably work on Epub first because that's the format I got the most requests for when I did a survey. But after that I'd be happy to get some Mobi pointers. Email me!
avdi
I'm gathering feedback on which format to work on next. So far the most-requested has been .epub.
dpapathanasiou
If you do go the epub route, let me know know if you're interested in trying eBookBurn.com (my startup's site), and I can issue you a promo code.

You'll also get a .mobi version simultaneously.

avdi
Yes, please.
peterarmstrong
It's shameless self-promotion, but my startup Leanpub (http://leanpub.com) lets you write in HTML or Markdown, embed external code samples, save your files in Dropbox and produce PDF, EPUB and MOBI with one click. We sell all 3 formats, with automatic update distribution to existing readers when you publish a new version (so you can sell your book while it's in progress). You keep the rights to your book, etc.
StavrosK
Uh... That's actually awesome. I'll start writing a book now, and that's where I'll publish it.
peterarmstrong
Great! Let me know how it's going, and if there's anything you need us to improve...
StavrosK
I definitely will! Right now I just wish you supported LaTeX, though.
avdi
That sounds super cool. I'm gonna check it out.
preek
"Check out the talk that that inspired the book" <- Find the the redundancy.
preek
Now, if pointing out syntax errors on a commercial frontpage doesn't help the author, then I don't know, guys.
pbreit
Anything like this for Python?
jrockway 

    try:
        your code
    except:
        handle the exception
    finally:
        clean up
avdi
That's all you'll find in my book, I just made the font really big and quintuple-spaced it.

;-)

jrockway
I want to read this book because I'm curious as to how you can stretch this topic beyond two pages. But I don't want to pay $15 for that. Any ideas?
psyklic
"I think your book is crap. Give it to me for free?"
jrockway
Not what I said at all. I am honestly intrigued, but not because I care about Ruby.
avdi
There's a video on the site of the conference talk that spawned the book, if that helps.