From: Lyle Johnson <lyle.johnson@...>
Date: 2005-11-29T06:27:44+09:00
Subject: Re: Programming Newbie: Ruby or Java?

On 11/28/05, Dab <dabhar1959@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I'm brand new to programming and had just decided to learn Java as a
> first language, then stumbled accross Ruby, which seems far simpler to
> learn, but doesn't seem to have as many resources/books etc.

Ruby is going to be far simpler for you to learn than Java. Of course,
you knew I was going to say that, didn't you? ;)

I'm hesitant to give advice about how to learn programming since I've
never taught anyone how to do that. Having said that, a lot of people
recommend "The Poignant Guide to Ruby" (online at
http://www.poignantguide.net/ruby/) as a fun to read Ruby
introduction. (I can vouch for the fun-to-read part; I just don't know
how good it is for teaching someone how to program.)

If you can wait for another month or so, Chris Pine's "Learn to
Program" is supposed to hit the bookshelves in January 2006 (see
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/fr_ltp/index.html). Although
the book's description doesn't explicitly say so, I think it's safe to
assume that Chris is using Ruby as the programming language in his
book.

I also definitely recommend the book "Programming Ruby" (2nd ed.) by
Dave Thomas and friends, although it's not a book for new programmers.

> I want to eventually write a Windows program for an Apartment
> Management company that will keep track of their buildings
> tenants....all their info, lockers, parking stalls, rental monies
> owing, that sort of thing.
>
> Will Ruby lead me to being able to do that eventually? I don't want,
> nor can afford, to use any programs like Visual Basic that cost wad's
> of money. And, I especially like the Open Source/Free program concepts
> and community atmospheres.

You can certainly write such an application with Ruby. At some point
down the road you will need to make some decisions about how users
interact with the program, e.g. whether it's a standalone application
that they run on their PC (such as Microsoft Office) or a Web-based
application that they access through a browser.

But that's not something that you need to decide about at this point.
In either case, Ruby's got you covered (and all with free tools and
software). ;)

Hope this helps,

Lyle