Ruby introduction
Ruby is a pure object-oriented programming language. It was founded in 1993 by Hakuhiro Matsumoto of Japan (Matsumoto Hiroshi / Yukihiro Matsumoto).
You can find the name of Hiro Matsumoto on www.ruby-lang.org ‘s Ruby mailinglist. Matsumoto is also known as Matz in the Ruby community.
Ruby is “programmer’s best friend”.
The features of Ruby 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. Using the syntax of Ruby is much easier than using the syntax of Smalltalk.
Characteristics of Ruby
Ruby is open source and is available free of charge on Web, but requires a license.
Ruby is a universal and interpretive programming language.
Ruby is a true 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 in Hypertext markup language (HTML).
The simple syntax of Ruby allows new developers to learn Ruby quickly and easily.
Ruby has a similar syntax to many programming languages such as C++ and Perl.
Ruby has strong expansibility, 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 wealth of built-in functions that can be used directly in Ruby scripts.
The tools you need
In order to perform the examples discussed in this tutorial, you need a computer with a RAM of at least 2GB (recommended 4GB) Intel Core i3 or i5. You also need the following software:
Linux or Windows 95/98/2000/NT or Windows 7 operating system
Apache 1.3.19-5 Web Server
Web browsers with Internet Explorer 5.0or above
Ruby 1.8.5
This tutorial shows you how to use Ruby to create GUI, network, and Web applications. It also discusses how to extend and embed Ruby applications.
What will you learn next?
The next chapter will show you where to get Ruby and its documentation. Finally, it tells you how to install Ruby and configure the environment to prepare for the development of Ruby applications.