Examancer

Many of us carry a device or two around with us capable of reading PDF files and there are often times when a reliable connection to the internet is not available. Whether it be a laptop you’re working on or a companion device like a smart phone (Palm Pre, iPhone, Android, etc.) or something like the iPad or Kindle there are cases where you might want a programming resource for one of these devices which doesn’t depend on an internet connection. Also important to many of us is price. There are several great books related to Ruby programming, but few of them are free and even fewer available as a free PDF download. Below are direct links to some free PDF Ruby books.

• humble little ruby book [PDF] (from humblelittlerubybook.com)
• WikiBooks: Ruby Programming – WikiBooks is a WikiMedia project and is similar to WikiPedia; however, content is organized under specific topics and meant to be treated somewhat like a book. I created a collection of all the Ruby Programming pages I could file and added in the print version of the Ruby on Rails topic as well. I then used the book creator to export the collection as a PDF. I am hosting a snapshot of this collection from 4/9/2010 here [PDF].
• The Little Book of Ruby [PDF] (from SapphireSteel Software)

I am looking at solutions for cleanly converting the RDoc documentation for ruby core, Rails, and a variety of gems. I will update this post or make a new post if I figure that out.