On Apr 17, 2007, at 2:59 PM, Morton Goldberg wrote:

> On Apr 17, 2007, at 1:22 PM, poison tooth wrote:
>
>> Im just learning ruby and im stuck the guide im using says
>>
>> "Your first program
>> Congratulations! Now that you have made it this far, you are ready to
>> start writing programs.
>> Hello World
>> Grab a text editor and type in the following:
>>
>> puts "Hello World"
>>
>> Save the file as hello.rb and run it by typing
>> ruby hello.rb"
>>
>> i've tried that more than once and it says the out is:
>>
>> "irb(main):001:0> ruby hello.rb
>> NameError: undefined local variable or method `hello' for main:Object
>>       from (irb):1
>> irb(main):002:0> "
>>
>> the guide never said what word processor should i use
>> i tried TextEdit.app but it fussed about the .rb
>> so i used Microsoft word and this is what it does...
>>
>> Any tips?
>
> Since you mention TextEdit, I presume you are on a Mac. Also, since  
> you mention irb, I presume you are familiar with Terminal. Here is  
> an easy way to run a Ruby script in Terminal. After writing your  
> hello script in TextEdit save it as hello.rb. Now in terminal at a  
> fresh prompt, type "ruby " (without the quotes and remember to  
> include the space after "ruby"). Now drag hello.rb into to Terminal  
> and hit return. The text "Hello World" should appear.

Also, there is one more possible source of trouble. TextEdit must be  
in Plain Text mode when you save a Ruby script. If it's in Rich Text  
mode, hit cmnd-shift-T to change the mode before you save.

Regards, Morton