What a gem

As some coders out there know, when it comes to coding, sometimes a project requires you to pick up another language. I have been actively playing with Perl for a little while now and have been working on a couple of scripts for work. Recently though, my Web Development job (outside of my day job) has had a realization regarding a project that we have in the works (sorry, cannot divulge any details). We are trying to figure out some of the details, and one of them is, what language would be best for the project. Well, in talking with my colleague ( who happens to own the company ), we are presently looking at Ruby as the language to code in.

I started looking at Ruby last week and must say....Wow....that is quite the interesting language. It is completely Object Oriented and written almost like you would speak (kind-of). My wife works at Barnes & Noble, so I utilized her deeper holiday special discount to pick up the "pickaxe" book at an incredible price.

I know that most people in the geek community have pretty much heard of Ruby, but in case you have had any incling of curiosity surrounding the language, here is the online version of the "pickaxe" book. This book would be the equivelant of the 'camel' book for Perl.

Here are some other good links that I have found (Ruby related), that I would like to share as well:

1 http://tryruby.hobix.com/ --> This is a small intro as well as a an interactive Ruby shell session to allow you to experiment. its pretty nice really.

2. http://www.rubyquiz.com/ --> This site has a bunch of quizes to which you will have to produce a solution. Nice way to practice your skills.

3. http://www.zenspider.com/Languages/Ruby/QuickRef.html --> A good Ruby language quick reference guide.

4. http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ --> Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby. Another online "book-like" reference to ruby. There are some cartoons to make the learning a little more fun, but similarly good information.

5. http://www.rubyonrails.org/ --> The Ruby on Rails website. Rails is a framework for creating web based apps and interfaces.

6. http://rubymanual.org/ --> The Ruby reference manual.

I know that there are some developers/coders who are strictly loyal to their languages, and I fully understand that, but I also believe in learning all that I can, including other languages. So please, no flames or flame wars over this please as I just want to share what I have found.

I hope that you have found this interesting and informative. Please feel free to comment with your additions to the Ruby knowledge links.