Ruby

6 courses
8 hours
Skill IQ

Ruby is a dynamic, open-source programming language known for its simplicity, elegance, and focus on developer happiness. Created by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto in 1995, it is designed to be intuitive and readable, mimicking natural language while offering high productivity.

Ruby is inherently object-oriented, treating everything as an object, which facilitates a uniform and understandable codebase. It supports dynamic typing and employs "duck typing" for more flexible coding patterns.

A notable aspect of Ruby is its principle of "Convention over Configuration," streamlining development processes, especially within the Ruby on Rails framework. The language also introduces powerful features such as blocks, procs, and lambdas for handling anonymous functions, alongside mixins for code reusability without the complexities of multiple inheritances.

With automatic garbage collection and tools like IRB for interactive programming, Ruby simplifies memory management and testing. Embraced for its broad library, versatile features, and a community embodying kindness, Ruby remains a popular choice for web applications, scripting, and automation tasks.

Courses in this path

Entry-Level

This section covers entry-level content.

Ruby 3: The Big Picture

by Paolo Perrotta
1h 21m
(21)

Ruby Fundamentals

by Anthony Alampi
1h 21m

Object-oriented Programming in Ruby

by Anthony Alampi
1h 21m

Practitioner

This section covers practitioner content.

Unit Testing in Ruby

by Anthony Alampi
1h 10m

Working with Data in Ruby 3

by Raphael Alampay
1h 38m

Packaging Ruby Code with RubyGems

by Anthony Alampi
1h 5m

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What you will learn

Ruby Basics:
- Syntax: Ruby's syntax and how it differs from other languages.
- Data Types: Ruby's data types, including numbers, strings, booleans, arrays, and hashes.
- Variables and Constants: How to declare and use variables and constants.
Control Structures:
- Conditional Statements: if, else, unless, and case expressions.
- Loops: while, until, for, and iterators like each and map.
Methods and Blocks:
- Defining and Invoking Methods: How to define your own methods and understand method parameters and return values.
- Blocks: How to use blocks with methods like .each and .map, and grasp block syntax.
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP):
- Classes and Objects: Concept of classes and instances (objects).
- Instance Variables and Methods: How objects hold data and behavior.
- Inheritance: How classes can inherit behavior from other classes.
- Mixins and Modules: Use of modules for organizing code and mixins for shared behavior.
Error Handling: Handle errors gracefully using begin, rescue, and ensure blocks.
File and Input/Output Operations: Understand how to read from and write to files, and perform other I/O operations.
Gem Management: Learn about Ruby's package manager and how to manage project dependencies.
Testing in Ruby: Testing frameworks such as RSpec or Minitest, and understand the importance of testing your code.
Debugging: Techniques and tools for debugging Ruby code to identify and fix issues.

Experience

No previous programming experience is strictly necessary to start learning Ruby. However, a few foundational skills and areas of knowledge will help:

Basic Programming Concepts: Understanding fundamental programming concepts such as variables, control flow (if statements, loops), methods/functions, and data structures (arrays, hashes) can be very beneficial. While you can learn these concepts while studying Ruby, having a grasp on them beforehand will make the journey smoother.
Basic Computer Skills: Fundamental computer operation skills, including using a text editor, managing files and directories, and familiarity with the command line or terminal, are essential. These skills are crucial for setting up Ruby on your system, managing your code files, and executing Ruby scripts.
Text Editor Familiarity: While you can write Ruby code in a basic text editor, using one that supports code highlighting and other development features (such as Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Vim or Emacs) can make coding more accessible and enjoyable.

Learn with the best

Paolo Perrotta

Paolo Perrotta is the author of "Programming Machine Learning" and "Metaprogramming Ruby". He has hundreds of articles, conference speeches and training deliveries under his belt. He developed software in domains ranging from automotive to healthcare, large-scale web sites, and computer games.

Anthony Alampi

I'm Anthony Alampi, an interactive designer and developer living in Houston, Texas. I'm a former professional video game developer and current design consultancy owner with over 17 years of programming experience and over 9 years of design experience. User-centric design is my passion, and I believe that when users come first, they come back! About My Company: X Factor Consultants is a digital design and consulting company based in The Woodlands, Texas. Our cross-disciplinary team consists of... more

Raphael Alampay

Raphael Alampay is the co-founder of Cloudband Solutions Co., a software development and consultancy company that caters to custom based software for SME around the globe. Using time and tested technology such as Java, Ruby on Rails, Python, PostgreSQL and Linux, he has a passion for creating applications that solve real world problems making businesses more efficient and innovative at the same time. His craft in software is largely based on the philosophy of "kaizen" which means continuous impr... more

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Ruby