"Hilary Bailey" <my77elephants / gmail.com> wrote in message news:2096254cfec3d3742171b0cb22bd4a96 / ruby-forum.com... > This is my second attempt to understand Ruby. I completely read 1) > "Beginning Ruby- From Novice to Professional (which to me is a > completely waste of time), 2) The Pragmatic approach to Ruby (which is > incomplete)3)Ruby in 20 minutes, 4)other 15 to 20 minutes cute intro > programs 5) Shoes and now 6)The Book of Ruby by Huw Collingourne, which > seems like a bible without a compiler, which may be totally useless. > > Is there anyone out there that could make my experience to Ruby > practical and meaningful? As noted previously, I am a school teacher > trying to create an education database software for administrators and > teachers which will hold educational institutions accountable for the > performance of their school district. My only programming experience is > the confusion I had trying to read and comprehend the above sources that > do not offer a stable compiler or the appropriate programs that will go > hand in hand with their book or resource for Ruby. > > Is there a free compiler and other supporting software that I can use to > make my so far miserable learning Ruby experience worth a while? So far > I am still sold on the idea that Ruby is the programing language to > know, but at this moment I really need HELP. > > Tk in advance, > > Hilary Hello Hilary: In addition to the suggestions provided by others you may also want to look at this http://www.troubleshooters.com/codecorn/ruby/basictutorial.htm to learn the Ruby language. It uses Linux so the way it describes running Ruby programs won't work for Windows and some of the examples given are a little strange (e.g. the use of three ellipses for loops, which is often more confusing than using Ruby's two ellipse format, and the use of the "length" method like "for ss in 0...presidents.length" in loops which could just be replaced by "for ss in presidents"). These (and tons of other resource you'll find by typing "ruby tutorial" into Google) are also useful http://www.fincher.org/tips/Languages/Ruby/ , http://www.digitalmediaminute.com/article/3398/ruby-programming-tutorial . I find Ruby a very easy (and enjoyable) language to learn (like Basic was many years ago) but it's a big step between knowing a language and knowing how to design and build a database applications. If your goal is to build a database application to share with a number of people spread over a large geographical areas then you'll eventually need to learn something about database design, decide what database you want to use, and decide if you want to create a desktop application (using something like wxRuby which is wxWidgets for Ruby) or a web application (using something like Ruby on Rails, also called RoR or Rails) . Desktop applications tend to be easier to write but harder to distribute and fix because you'll need to copy them (or any fixes) to each computer that needs them. Web applications tend to be harder to write because you'll need more infrastructure (computers and software) and understanding of programming specialties (i.e. security, multi-user environment design, web architecture) but are easier to distribute and fix because you'll only need to provide folks with the location (i.e. a web address), user id and password of your web application and can fix things in one spot, locally on your web server. If your target ends up being a Windows desktop application, I find it easier to build desktop applications in tools like Embarcadero Delphi or Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and often suggest that clients with little programming experience use something like Microsoft Access because these tools have integrated development-environments, database builders, GUI builders and deployment tools that make things easier out-of-the-box. I suggest this because even though Ruby is a very nice languages (my favourite actually), the language is a small part of the overall picture when building a complex application. Unfortunately, Ruby is usually my last choice for desktop projects because of the complexities of pulling together and predictably deploying all the pieces (i.e. database drivers, GUI, libraries). Ruby also presents challenges for speed, protection of intellectual property and data privacy. I recommend you dig deeper on these topics and decide for yourself. I just wanted to warn you before you got too deep then frustrated and blamed Ruby for your pain when the pain is probably related to many other things. If your target ends up being a web application then Ruby on Rails is a good choice (even through, for similar reasons, I've found Embarcadero Delphi Intraweb better for the web applications I've needed to build). If you decide to use Ruby to develop your database application you should consider purchasing a robust code editor like JetBrains RubyMine (http://www.jetbrains.com/ruby/ ) which can help you be more productive (especailly for coding error identifcation and debugging) when writing either Ruby or Ruby on Rails applications. I learned Ruby with the book "Programming Ruby" and Ruby-on-Rails with the book "Agile Web Development with Rails". Both are authored by Dave Thomas and published by The Programmatic Programmers. Michael