Ruby Introduction

Ruby is a pure object-oriented programming language. It was created in 1993 by Yukihiro Matsumoto (まつもとゆきひろ / Yukihiro Matsumoto) of Japan.

You can find Yukihiro Matsumoto (まつもとゆきひろ / Yukihiro Matsumoto)'s name on the Ruby mailing list at www.ruby-lang.org. In the Ruby community, Matsumoto is also known as Matz.

Ruby is a programmer's best friend.

Ruby's features are similar to Smalltalk, Perl, and Python. Perl, Python, and Smalltalk are scripting languages. Smalltalk is a true object-oriented language. Ruby, like Smalltalk, is a perfect object-oriented language. Ruby's syntax is much easier to use than Smalltalk's.

Ruby Features

  • Ruby is open source, freely available on the Web, but requires a license.
  • Ruby is a general-purpose, interpreted programming language.
  • Ruby is a truly object-oriented programming language.
  • Ruby is a server-side scripting language similar to Python and Perl.
  • Ruby can be used to write Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts.
  • Ruby can be embedded into HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
  • Ruby's syntax is simple, which enables new developers to learn Ruby quickly and easily.
  • Ruby has a syntax similar to many programming languages such as C++ and Perl.
  • Ruby is highly extensible, and large programs written in Ruby are easy to maintain.
  • Ruby can be used to develop Internet and Intranet applications.
  • Ruby can be installed in Windows and POSIX environments.
  • Ruby supports many GUI tools, such as Tcl/Tk, GTK, and OpenGL.
  • Ruby can easily connect to DB2, MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase.
  • Ruby has a rich set of built-in functions that can be used directly in Ruby scripts.

Tools You Need

To execute the examples discussed in this tutorial, you need a computer with an Intel Core i3 or i5 with at least 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended). You will also need the following software:

  • Linux or Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Windows 7 operating system
  • Apache 1.3.19-5 Web server
  • Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher Web browser
  • Ruby 1.8.5

This tutorial will cover how to use Ruby to create GUI, network, and Web applications. It will also discuss how to extend and embed Ruby applications.

What Will You Learn Next?

The next chapter will introduce you to where you can get Ruby and its documentation. Finally, it will instruct you on how to install Ruby and configure the environment in preparation for developing Ruby applications.

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