Press Release

December 4, 2008

Wicked Cool Ruby Scripts--New from No Starch Press: 58 Time-Saving Ruby Scripts that Solve Real-World Problems

San Francisco, CA, December 4, 2008—Ruby is a powerful, high-level programming language that's well suited for a variety of tasks. It's easy to read, easy to write, and it can make getting things done fast and painless. And Ruby really shines when it comes to scripting tidy little solutions to difficult problems.

Wicked Cool Ruby Scripts (No Starch Press, December 2008, 216 pp, ISBN 9781593271824) offers readers a collection of Ruby utilities for tasks ranging from system administration to image manipulation and website management. Readers learn how to automate everyday tasks and tackle complex problems by designing powerful web crawlers and security scripts as well as full-fledged libraries and applications. Each of the scripts is designed to be immediately useful and to encourage the reader to push Ruby to its limits.

"Ruby has been a game changer for me," said author Steve Pugh. "I use Ruby frequently and love when elegant little scripts save the day. I hope readers, too, can enjoy the power of this wonderful programming language."

In addition to learning how to streamline administrative tasks like renaming files, disabling processes, and changing permissions, readers learn how to:

• Manipulate strings, encrypt files, and sort efficiently
• Validate web links, check for orphan files, and generate forms
• Mass edit photos, extract image information, and create thumbnails
• Parse CSV files and scrape links, images, and pages from the Web

As with all titles in the Wicked Cool series from No Starch Press, along with each script readers are given the code, a discussion of how the script works, and tips on how to customize it. In no time at all, readers will be saving valuable time and discovering the power of Ruby.

For more information, to schedule an interview with the book's author, or for a review copy of Wicked Cool Ruby Scripts, please contact Travis Peterson at No Starch Press (nostarchpr@oreilly.com, +1.415.863.9900, x300), or visit www.nostarch.com.

About the Author
Steve Pugh has been programming for over a decade. He has worked as a software analyst for a banking software company, run a large-scale network operations center (overseeing 7,000 users and 130 network technicians), and is currently doing security research for the US government. Much of this book was written while Pugh was working for the US government in Northern Iraq.

Additional Resources
Chapter 1: "General Purpose Utilities" (PDF)
Table of contents overview
Detailed table of contents (PDF)
Index (PDF)
Large cover image

Wicked Cool Ruby Scripts
by Steve Pugh
December 2008, 216 pp
ISBN 9781593271824, $29.95 USD
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000

Available in fine bookstores everywhere, from www.oreilly.com/nostarch, or directly from No Starch Press (https://www.nostarch.com/, orders@nostarch.com, 1-800-420-7240).

About No Starch Press
Founded in 1994, No Starch Press is one of the few remaining independent technical book publishers. We publish the finest in geek entertainment—unique books on technology, with a focus on Open Source, security, hacking, programming, alternative operating systems, and LEGO. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about. See https://www.nostarch.com/ for a complete catalog. (And most No Starch Press books use RepKover, a lay-flat binding that won't snap shut.)

About O'Reilly

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