Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional

Chapter 1. Let's Get It Started: Installing Ruby

Ruby is a popular programming language, but not many computers understand it by default. This chapter takes you through the steps necessary to get Ruby working on your computer.

As an open source language, Ruby has been adapted to run on many different computer platforms and architectures. This means that if you develop a Ruby program on one machine, it's likely you'll be able to run it without any changes on a different machine. You can use Ruby, in one form or another, on all the following operating systems and platforms:

• Microsoft Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, and Windows 7

• Mac OS X

• Linux

• Sun Solaris or OpenSolaris

• BSDs (including FreeBSD and OpenBSD)

• Symbian Series 60 platform (cell phones, typically) ...