Samuel Williams wrote: > Dear Hilary, > > Can you explain what your goal is? > > Are you trying to make a web application, or are you simply interested > to learn more about Ruby? > > Kind regards, > Samuel Dear Samuel, For the last 19 years of teaching I have being toying with an efficient way of accounting for students accomplishment/results. This idea has now grown to the creation (in rough sketches using excel spreadsheets) of a monster program that determines a school district success. It includes educational, financial and economic analysis which determines how well a school district has been doing. In my past, friends who have the background in writing software have been disappointing, therefore, why not write it myself. I was advised by an open source commentator to try Ruby. So, here I am on a mission to learn a programming language that will allow me to express my 19 year old idea. I was also told that while learning Ruby, Rails will help, as it can disperse info etc.. Any suggestions? Thank's in advance, HIlary -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.