brundlefly76 wrote:
> I have been a production Perl programmer for about 10 years, and am
> looking into tinkering with Ruby, and had a few questions:
> 
> 1. I noticed Ruby was not installed by default on Suse 9.2 (although a
> package was available in Yast). Does anyone have any information on
> what Linux distributions *do* install Ruby by default, and any progress
> on that? Because of the nature of my work, its not too convenient for
> me to go installing interpreters on every machine I need to work on.

Can't tell you, sorry. As far as I am concerned I tend to make the 
latest stable Ruby on new systems (unless they're Windows machines, then 
I take the one-click-installer).

> 3. Is anyone here running Ruby in a production environment, and for
> what applications?

See http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RealWorldRuby

> 4. Any Perl programmers have any comments on their experiences working
> with Ruby?

I used to do Perl and C++ programming when I first too notice of Ruby. I 
wasn't too exited, mainly because I didn't understand the Japanese 
documentation. Then some months later I found Dave & Andy's book 
"Programming Ruby" (the pickaxe) in the local bookstore and instantly 
got hooked.
I didn't have the feeling I actively learned Ruby. I learned that there 
is a language out there that worked pretty much the way I think.
And I have to admit that *this* was not the way I got used to Perl (but 
I have met people how say that it's just the other way round for them).

Happy rubying

Stephan