On Dec 1, 2005, at 22:36, m / de-minimis.co.uk wrote:
> Are there installation instructions for Mac OS X somewhere?
>
> Log so far:
>
> [looks good]
>
> Now the exciting bit: typed ruby.
> Basically nothing happens.  I can type commands but there is no  
> prompt and the commands never return anything:
>
> .../Languages/Ruby/ruby-1.8.3 max$ ruby
> 1
> 1*2
> print "ElloElloEllo"
> [pressed control C to escape]

By default, Ruby installs to /usr/local/bin/ruby, while the original  
one is at /usr/bin/ruby - so unless you changed it, the original's  
still there.  You can set your path variable to determine which one  
to use.  Mac's default Ruby is subtley broken, so you're likely  
better off in the long run installing your own.

If you just type Ruby, then the interpreter is reading from the  
standard input as if it were a file (this is pretty standard  
behaviour, perl works the same way).  If you hit ctrl-D (which  
indicates end-of-file) you should see something happen.  If nothing  
happens when you do that, then something is very definitely UP.

Something better to try would be running 'irb' which is the  
interactive interpreter, which sounds like what you were expecting to  
get in the first place.

good luck,
matthew smillie.