[Inori]

Nightc||ed's Beginner Ruby Guide

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Introduction

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Ruby is a cross-platform interpreted language which has many features in common with other ‘scripting’ languages such as Perl and Python. It has an ‘English language’ style syntax which looks somewhat Pascal-like at first sight. It is thoroughly object oriented, and has a good deal in common with the greatgranddaddy of ‘pure’ OO languages, Smalltalk. It has been said that the languages which most influenced the development of Ruby were: Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada and Lisp. The Ruby language was created by Yukihiro Matsumoto (commonly known as ‘Matz’) and it was first released in 1995.
- Book Of Ruby; © Huw Collingbourne

That's the textbook definition of the Ruby language, covering basic language relationship, history and syntax.

Some things to note

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As mentioned in the introduction, I highly recommend learning Ruby if you already know Perl or Python as it's basically a cleaner python.

Spoiler: Example

Ruby:

Code:

puts "This." sleep

Python:

Code:

print("As compared to this.") wait = input()

Perl:

Code:

print "Or this.\n"; sleep;

Terminology

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Ruby terminology is pretty easy to understand but I'll drop this here for later use in the tutorial
(Would be a lot more convenient if we had the table plugin, @Onion)
[spoiler=A-F]
Argument

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An argument to a method is a named variable in the method's definition, or an object passed to a method when called.

Array

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An ordered collection values, often assigned to a variable. in Ruby, the array takes the place of all ordered collections. They act as arrays, lists, stacks, queues, etc...

Benchmark

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An evaluation of how fast computer software can run.

Boolean

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An expression that outputs either True or False

Data Structure

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A way of storing data in memory for later use

Define

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"Define" is used to express how and when variables, classes and methods are first available for use.

DRY

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Don't Repeat Yourself.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=G-L]
GUI

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Graphic User Interface

Hash

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A named collection of key/value pairs

I/O

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Input / Output

Iterate

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"Visit" each element in a collection.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=M-R]
Method

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A function associated with a class or object.


Object

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An 'object' refers to an instance of a class

Ruby on Rails (RoR)

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MVC framework for web applications
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=S-Z]
Statement

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A stand-alone piece of code.

String

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Text

Syntax

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"Grammatical" rules of a programming language.
[/spoiler]

CodeCademy Ruby Glossary


The Hello World

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Code:

puts "Hello, world!" sleep

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Hope you guys enjoyed part one of the series. Like for more!
-Nigthc||ed