Developed in Japan in the mid-1990s, Ruby is a high-level, interpreted, general-purpose programming language. Its influences included Ada, C++, CLU, Dylan, Eiffel, Lisp, Lua, Perl, Python, Smalltalk, and Basic.
Of the more popular languages, Ruby is said to more closely resemble a spoken language. It is simple, flexible, and not as verbose as many other languages. The chief disadvantage is that programs written in Ruby tend to be slower than those written in other languages. Also, because it is one of the newer languages, it doesn't have a strong developer community.
The designer, Yukihiro Matsumoto, describes Ruby as being like a simpler Lisp language, with the object system of Smalltalk, blocks inspired by higher-order functions, and the practical utility of Perl.
Released in 1995, by 2000, the language was more popular than Python in Japan. The first English Ruby language book was published in late 2000, and it has since been gaining in popularity in the English-speaking world.
Released in 2005, Ruby on Rails has been credited with a surge in interest in Ruby. Rails is a framework, but Ruby is the programming language that Rails was built on.
Ruby can be run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and several other OS platforms.
The original Ruby interpreter was Matz's Ruby Interpreter (MRI), which uses its own Ruby-specific virtual machine. Beginning with Ruby 1.9, the official Ruby interpreter has been Yet Another Ruby VM (YARV), which supersedes the slower virtual machine used in previous versions.
Several alternative implementations of Ruby have been developed, each taking a different approach. Major implementations include JRuby, TruffleRuby, and Rubinius. Others are MagLev, mruby, the Ruby Game Scripting System (RGSS), Topaz, and Opal. Discontinued implementations, which may still be found, included Cardinal, HotRuby, IronRuby, MacRuby, and the Ruby Enterprise Edition. In recent years, the maturity of the implementations is measured by their ability to support the Ruby on Rails framework.
RubyGems is the Ruby package manager.
Topics related to the Ruby programming language are the focus of topics in this category. Any of the Ruby implementations, compilers, libraries, editors, or other tools designed specifically for Ruby are appropriate resources.
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Recommended Resources
Originally released in 2001, JRuby is a free software (EPL/GPL/LGPL) implementation of the Ruby programming language atop the Java Virtual Machine and has been able to run the Ruby on Rails framework since 2006. The benefits and requirements of using JRuby are put forth, including its platform independence. Development notes, news, and user documentation are published to the site, along with security disclosures, a user forum, chat, and downloads page.
https://www.jruby.org/
Developed in Japan in the mid-1990s, Ruby is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language that supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming. Available under the Ruby License, GPLv2, or w-clause BSD license, it may be downloaded from the site. Other resources include documentation, a guide to third-party languages, security data, and a list of Ruby user groups.
https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
The non-profit organization was created to support and advocate for the Ruby programming language and is the parent organization of the annual International Ruby and Ruby on Rails Conferences. Its history, goals, board, and staff are acknowledged, and its projects are reported on. The Ruby Central Community Grant and Opportunity Scholarships are highlighted, with program details, contacts, and other information. Conference schedules and details are included.
http://www.rubycentral.org/
This Ruby documentation project is an effort by the Ruby community to provide accurate and complete documentation for the Ruby programming language. Among the documentation featured includes the Core API, which covers the base classes and modules in the current stable release, as well as the Standard Library API, with the standard library classes and modules for the current release. Others include a collection of resources for those just starting out with Ruby.
http://www.ruby-doc.com/
Sponsored by Fastly, Ruby Central, Ruby Together, and other members of the Ruby community, RubyGems.Org is the Ruby community’s gem hosting services. Ruby developers may instantly publish their gems and then install them, use the API to learn about available gems, and become a contributor. Guides are available, and its status, uptime, and stats are displayed. Other resources include a user forum, a help area, security information, and a blog.
https://rubygems.org/
Currently available only for the Windows platform, the RubyInstaller project provides a self-contained installer that contains a Ruby language execution environment, a baseline set of required RubyGems and extensions, and which integrates into an MSYS2 installation. An introduction is put forth, along with a discussion of its advantages and benefits, project contributors are acknowledged, and a help section is included. The download section includes several versions.
https://rubyinstaller.org/
Why’s (poignant) Guide to Ruby
Opening with a lengthy comic section, the site offers a free guide to the Ruby programming language, interspersed and illustrated with comics. After a discussion as to why Ruby is an easy language to learn, including the benefits of doing so, the various aspects of the language are described, with generous code examples and illustrations. The guide is divided into chapters and sub-chapters, and also includes a mini-adventure story, written in Ruby.
http://poignant.guide/
