The book is divided into bite-sized chunks. Each chapter introduces a theme that is subdivided into subtopics. Each programming topic is accompanied by one or more small, self-contained, ready-to-run Ruby programs.

If you want to follow a well-structured “course,” read each chapter in sequence. If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can run the programs first and refer to the text when you need an explanation. If you already have some experience with Ruby, feel free to cherry-pick topics in any order you find useful. There are no monolithic applications in this book, so you don’t have to worry you might lose the plot if you read the chapters out of order!