Sunday, September 22, 2013

Learning to Code with Ruby

Coding is not my strong point.  Having to go through this Ruby on Rails has both been refreshing and frustrating.  I started with http://www.codecademy.com and naturally after the creation of a profile you start the process of learning not only ruby but have the choice to play with Java, Python and PHP just to name a few.

But what is Ruby?  If you're like me you want to know what it is and had to find sites to dumb it down for me.
Ruby is a scripting language.  Ah what?  Scripting Language, it means that it relies that runs on the web to translate your hand-written code into an executable code right there and then.  upon an application source code all of the time.  It doesn't have a compiler, instead it uses a an interpreter.  For compiled langualed a compiler is used and every time you change your code you have to stop and re-run the code for your changed to take into effect.  It really depends on the programmer and what they like to use but I do find that ruby is easier to use than say, JAVA.

I found these on youtube that gave a small differences between Ruby and PHP but there are more and were humorous as well as informative.



Of course having a background in writing programs helps since Ruby builds on some of the same concepts.  What is really nice though is Ruby has a large and helpful community.  I was able to find the answers that I needed or see why my programming didn't work, which was quite often.

It may take some computer wizard only a few hours to go through the whole tutorial but for a "newbie" like me several days since frustration kicks in (it has been several years since I even attempted to write code).  I remember why I changed from CS to CIS, but in hindsight had I realized I'd be doing this today I would have completely switched to a basic business degree.

Some other sights that I found useful to help me through Ruby tutorial is http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby.  Basically another in browser tool to work on your Ruby language skills.

Follow me and my progression on trying to re-learn a much needed skill in the program writing world.  I'm taking the blue pill and following the bunny rabbit down the hole.  Cheers!

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