From: cmdjackryan@...
Date: 2007-01-30T08:12:17+09:00
Subject: Re: learning tools for a novice

Rae wrote:
> Thanks.
> As for software recommendations, my taste is "simple" - the simpler 
> the better -  Operating system: Windows XP, builing databases and 
> manipulating the data and stored values.... And later, once I am 
> familiar with the language, to build a website. What program(s) would 
> I need for these needs?
> 

Well, SciTE is quite a good choice in such a case (it is part of the 
Ruby one click installer for Windows, for example) and cna run 
non-interactive Ruby scripts from within SciTE. It is free, and supports 
syntax highlighting, as well as automatic indentation of code.
Next comes Mondrian IDE (haven't tried it), which is written in pure 
Ruby, and after that there's Eclipse with the Ruby Development Tools. I 
can't really judge the IDEs though, as I don't have a need yet.

And you already have all you need, if you have Ruby installed: Notepad 
as text editor, irb to test short snippets of code, and, of course, the 
Ruby interpreter.

Fortunately, you don't need specialised programs for your needs, as Ruby 
is a scripting language, so there's no need for specialized software.

It's up to you to find which toolset fits your own needs best, as there 
is no tried and true suite of tools for every developer.

-Phill