Wow, thanks for the great feed-back thus far!!

Learn both Ruby and Java? Hmmm--never thought of that! Good idea!

Ruby and Rails---that seems interesting, but if I'm thinking about
marketing my software (my first project idea) eventually, to
independent Apartment complexes/Property Management companies, would
that limit me at all? I'm thinking about creating a Point-of-Sale
program next, to use in Optical Stores.

I like that Ruby is an emerging, blossoming language, despite the
limited resources, compared to Java. A contrarians dream! Maybe I'll be
able to contribute to it's growth, which sounds exciting.

As long as Ruby can enable me to create GUI programs, I'm not too
concerned about having an instantaneous RAD environment (Like NetBean's
for example). My chief objective, after many years of wishin 'n
dreamin, is to learn how to program---to be a programmer---so I can
create, use and maybe market, my own programs.

Based on your responses.....y'all sound like a community I'd love to
join! Again, thank you so much for the tremendous feedback and gracious
welcome!