Learn Ruby in your web browser

by Jordan Running Nov 28th 2005

Why the Lucky Stiff, dynamo of the Ruby community and writer of the Poignant Guide to Ruby, has created Try Ruby, an interactive Ruby prompt that, though the magic of (you guessed it) AJAX runs right in your web browser. If you've ever wanted to try programming in Ruby but don't want to take the time to download and install it on your machine, this is your chance. Try Ruby even has a built-in Ruby tutorial, though Why says it's only half-finished, so if you run into a brick wall and want to keep learning try the Poignant Guide above, the Pickaxe, or, for the brand new programmer, Chris Pine's How to Program.

[Via Simon Willison]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Apple said 1:07AM on 11-30-2005

Woah! thanks for the heads up, I'm going to learn ruby now. :)

Derek Organ said 8:12AM on 11-30-2005

Absolutely brilliant way to teach someone programming. There should be something like this for every programming language.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters