Aux

Ruby is

A dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write.

Ruby is really cool and writting in it is a pleasure! But where to start from if you are totally new to Ruby? What to download and which IDE to use? I would recommend NetBeans. First of all it is written in Java so it is a crossplatform solution: Windows, UNIX, MacOS X are all handled. And this IDE has a lot of useful features like Ruby on Rails support, Ruby debugger and Ruby Gems installation manager. But the best feature for newcomers is bundled JRuby - a Ruby implementation in Java. So one package contains everything to get you started in no time!

You can read more about features and functionality on NetBeans Ruby page and then download it (about 60 megs).

So, everything is downloaded, what's next? I suggest reading Programming Ruby - The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide. First edition of this book is freely available online, but remember - first edition comes from year 2000 and some things are changed, so some examples will not work or will show you some kind of warning. Anyway this is the best guide to Ruby I have read, so I suggest you to buy this one (newer edition of course). Also there are tonns of documentation online available.

I hope you will enjoy programming Ruby as much as I do!

Tonight I've decided to read about Ruby. Just a little-little bit. When I finally closed my notebook lid and switched off light only four and a half hours left 'till waking up...

What does it mean? Ruby is brilliant! It is simply THE BEST language I've ever known! I don't have enough words to illustrate how I'm excited! Ruby rocks!