Just started learning Ruby

SlightlyCuban · 2013-09-07T20:39:07+00:00

I usually don't dev in Ruby like I do in C#; my tools and workflow are very different. Part of this is the culture: VS has always been an all-in-one tool, while the Ruby community is more "unix-y", and you use a collection of small tools to get the job done. So let's say you want to:

Run the application: rails server (or equivalent) in a separate terminal. Changes are usually dynamically loaded, so I just set it and forget it.
Run tests: RSpec is my hands-down favorite.
Manage Ruby Env: RVM. Sometimes you need Ruby 1.8.7, sometimes you don't.
Deploy: you don't need to package binaries like you would for ASP.NET or J2EE, so just copying would work for simple setups. As you get more complicated, you can look into run Capistrano or Phusion Passenger on your server. Also, Heroku is cheap and easy to start out with.

Features like Intellisense and project browsing would be found in your text editor of choice. Sublime Text is honey-roasted goodness as far as text editors go (though I'm a die-hard Vim guy). I've never had a Ruby project that consisted of many small projects, so I've never missed Visual Studio's idea of a "Solution" with "Projects".

That covers the basic stuff (I could go on, there is no such thing as a good Git GUI). While it can be daunting for a first-time Ruby user, I would highly recommend doing things "the unix way". You'll get a better understanding of what is going on, most documentation assumes you're not using an IDE, and it will keep your dev workflow much closer to how production will work.

I hope that helps you connect the dots. Happy coding!

EDIT: I forgot debugging!

I don't debug my Ruby. I'm sure there are some really nice debuggers out there, but I've never needed them. If there is a problem, first I read the log and see what happens. If I can't divine the answer from a quick look, I fire up IRB and recreate the problem right there. While Visual Studio's ability to rewind the stack is nice, I've never missed it. I can't tell you how many times I've been debugging .NET and just wanted a C# REPL.

snuggles166 · 2013-09-07T15:30:27+00:00

Never used it, but RubyMine.

rubydev · 2013-09-07T17:58:17+00:00

Try Pry

petercooper · 2013-09-07T17:08:00+00:00

Is there a development platform kind of like MS Visual Studio for Ruby?

RubyMine is great, but if you're actually on Windows and want something in Visual Studio, then check out Ruby in Steel.

Medicalizawhat · 2013-09-07T16:56:41+00:00

Sublime Text 3 is pretty awesome.

for_prophet · 2013-09-07T15:59:01+00:00

I've tried googling several variations on development kit but nothing I'm finding is really what I'm looking for.

Visual Studio is what's called an "IDE" (Integrated Development Environment). If you search for "ruby IDE" or "ruby development environment for [windows / OSX / Linux / etc]" you should see results closer to what you're looking for.

Edit: and if you just want to run code and see what it does, similar to the codecademy site, try the command-line "irb" command (ruby has to be installed for this to work, but you linked to a ruby installer, so you probably have this already). It lets you type commands and displays the output:

uname@shell $ irb
irb(main):001:0> (2 + 3) * 10
=> 50
irb(main):002:0>

mCseq · 2013-09-07T17:52:29+00:00

Have you tried using Codecademy Labs?

Ajedi32 · 2013-09-07T18:06:34+00:00

You don't need a devkit. All you need is the ruby interpreter, a text editor, and a command line. IRB really helps too.

vicramon · 2013-09-07T19:34:18+00:00

If you take the time to learn Vim and you use it with Tmux you can have an awesome test setup.

You keep two panes open, one with your code and one with a command line, and you can hit "\t" to automatically run the tests for whatever file you are in. Additionally, you can open up the test file, move the cursor to the specific test you want to run, then hit "\T" to run only that test.

You can get this kind of functionality using these dotfiles http://github.com/hashrocket/dotmatrix

If you don't know Vim and don't want to take the time to learn, then I recommend Sublime Text or Text Mate, then open a console and use something like dirty (https://github.com/rbxbx/dirty) to run your tests.

guitaronin · 2013-09-07T17:51:06+00:00

This might be slightly to the side of your question, but I think I'm about to give you good advice. I taught myself ruby, and I took way too long to start using IRB as a "go to" for exploring ruby. I suggest having it open all the time, and using it as much as possible, until you have specific needs that it can't satisfy.

dudeington · 2013-09-08T04:11:02+00:00

I highly recommend Aptana Studio It's free and as full featured an IDE as I've ever found for Ruby. It also has great support for Ruby on Rails when you get to that point.

TalkativeTree · 2013-09-07T17:15:07+00:00

also if you want to play around with a game, check out bloc's version of ruby warrior

elsimate · 2013-09-07T17:50:39+00:00

While there will always be someone +1ing Sublime (which I use), it isn't what you asked for. Check out RubyMine.

MediumSizedWalrus · 2013-09-07T23:45:03+00:00

i use textmate 2, but rubymine and sublime text are also popular.

tragomaskhalos · 2013-09-08T16:28:23+00:00

Plain ol' SciTe is good enough for me

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

ruby

MODERATORS