Driven to Develop

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve decided to teach myself Ruby. It’s really not a complex language but I hadn’t had my “ah-ha” moment with it yet in spite of having read of the tutorials and going over “The Pickaxe“. I just was really just “Google-gramming” (AKA “copy/paste/debug” programming) to get what I wanted. Well, all that has changed.

I don’t remember how I found “Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby” but I’m sure grateful that I did. This explanation of Ruby breaks it down perfectly and leads you thru the wonderland while pointing out and explaining the sights and details. That being said, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS WHILE ALTERED!! This includes (but is not limited to) drunk, stoned, baked, bagged, hammered, or hopped up. The author, whytheluckstiff, apparently was plenty altered for all of us when this was written. Seriously though, you will have to get past the cartoons and semi-random side trips to find the meat of this guide but I assure you that it’s worth it. And the explanations are just fine even if you’re a beginning programmer. Ruby has really caught my attention as having taken many of the good qualities of various languages and melded them into a powerful and coherent dialect. I probably would even recommend it as a first language for someone who’s looking to learn how to program.