I have been a huge fan of Java for a few years now, and recieved a 5 (out of 5) on the AP COmputer Science A exam (college level programming, in Java). I signed up for AP Computer Science AB for this year, but 7 people signed up so the class was cancelled, so I have signed up for next year. I have also read a few books on Java, one of which is the Exam Prep (Exam Cram) review book for the Sun Certified Java Prgrammer exam, it looks to me as though I know most of what is tested, but I have not memorized the limits for the different primitive types.

THat is my background in Java. This year, a few weks ago really, I came acros a new programming language, Ruby. Ruby appears to be as Object Oriented as is presently possible, which is shown, or alluded to, in their moto: "Where everyhing is an object." If you look at a statement in Ruby:

returnedNumber = -7.ab

assigns 7 to returnedNumber. In Java:

returnedNumber = Math.abs(-7);

You can tell how much more OO Ruby is even compared to Java.

Durign my Java addiction I began a website: "You Like Java?". I have now decided to change my website to "You Like OOP?"(I actually requested here to change my subdomain to oop, from java, but apparently I had too little credits, which is partly why I am posting this, )

I think we should have a Ruby Forum, Ruby is prospering, athough relatively few people know about it, it is powerful, and, I think, sets teh way for even purer OOP languages, paving the way for the furure of programming.

Here are a few Ruby websites:

• http://www.ruby-lang.org/ (the official Ruby site)
• http://www.rubycentral.com/ ("the source for Ruby")
• http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/ruby/ruby-talk/index.shtml (ruby talk)
• http://www.rubycentral.com/book/index.html (the Programming Ruby book)
• http://www.ruby.ch/en/rubybookonline.shtml (the same book, but here you can actually execute the ode samples right from your browser!)
• http://rubyforge.org/ (you know sourceforge right? well this is rubyforge.)

There are a lot more links, you can fnd the best ones here: http://www.rubycentral.com/links/index.html.

Well, if you look around a bit or read the forum descriptions a little more carefully, you'll see we already have a forum for Ruby under Programming > Scripting.

Moved to Ruby.

Ruby is a bit more than a simple scripting language, though. Unlike Perl, or bash shell scripts, it's well-suited to writing REAL proggies. Along with Python, it sort of bends the boundaries of scripting languages and real languages.

Also, it is VERY good for those looking to learn the basic concepts of OOP. It has a MUCH cleaner object model than Java... In a lot of ways, it's actually the "ideal" programming language that I had been cooking up in my head. I was able to start using MUCH faster than any other language I had previously tried my hand at, because it so closely matched my ideas of how a language SHOULD work.

I didn't look under scripting for that reason, RUby is a fullflsddged programming language, NOT a scripting language. It is definitely in teh same league as Java, at least more so than Perl.

I really think we should have the Ruby Forum here in Programming, (although it wasn't the main point of my post).

I'm new to Ruby. Years ago I did glanced through the Ruby manual from www.PragmaticProgrammer.com which was actually fully published on www.informIT.com at the time. Since then, I've always wanted to try programming web pages in Ruby, but were not successful in getting a free webhost which has Ruby. Recently, I found out about www.RubyOnRails.com while googling for new Ruby development progress, it looks to be an exciting framework to build websites on.

Q: AstaHost.com has full Ruby support on the server, right?

For now, I'm interested in learning simple Ruby programming. I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough to start off any topics on the basics of Ruby yet.

Q: Would anyone of you care to start something simple on the basics of programming Ruby, maybe something I'd be able to contribute as well?

I actually found the entire Pragmatic Programmer's Guide to Ruby book published online at RubyCentral.com here is the link:

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide