Aside from being cute, and maybe harking back to why’s guide; I like how this feels like it aids in understanding. Each illustration provides character that helps aid in memorizing or creating a mental landscape of the exceptions.
Theres probably a lot of documentation that could be aided by illustrations like this along the lines of analogy and metaphor. Aside from making the process of reading documentation more fun, it probably helps differentiate long and complex documentation that otherwise might blur together.
I don't appreciate how it seems like an elaborate ad though: Every error has a link to the paid service they're selling , with the error/exception "Enemies" list as their product
On the contrary, I quite like how it's a very elaborate and useful ad. The link to the paid service is very discreet and the website provides real and free educational value even if you don't use their service.
Why so? This is in my book the best form of advertising. It provides anyway something useful for the interested reader, while exposing the (alleged, at least) usefulness of their services. Much better this that a banner or a pop-up in some random website that tracked you down as a Ruby developer.
I don't appreciate it either, maybe I'm a bit dull. I feel tricked as it is unclear from a quick glance what I am looking at is really an advertisement, not a tutorial or some kind of reference. And as an advertisement, it may or may not be useful. At least the incentives are clearly there to present information in a way that benefits their funnel even if it doesn't benefit me as a developer. Even if its not a straight up lie, they will obviously not mention an alternative solution to their product and could very well be quite incomplete.
For a reference, I want something I can trust to give information relevant to my purpose, something that is complete and valid. Not a playful hidden advertisement, funneling me into a single paid solution. Maybe this is why I prefer python, even after working with rails for many years. As I said, I might be a bit dull.
Theres probably a lot of documentation that could be aided by illustrations like this along the lines of analogy and metaphor. Aside from making the process of reading documentation more fun, it probably helps differentiate long and complex documentation that otherwise might blur together.