Ruby by Example

Introduction: What Is Ruby?

Ruby is “a dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write.”^[1] It was released in 1995 by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto. It is often described as either a very high-level language or a scripting language, depending on whom you ask. As such, it doesn’t require a programmer to specify the details of how the computer implements your decisions. Like other high-level languages, Ruby is often used in text-processing applications, including an increasing number of web applications. I hope that once you’ve become more acquainted with the language, you’ll agree that it does a good job of getting out of your way and simply letting ...