From: Phillip Gawlowski <pg@...>
Date: 2010-01-20T08:20:25+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie needs help getting started

On 19.01.2010 20:48, Cary Swoveland wrote:

> Not having an IDE, I've resorted to inserting umpteen puts "..." in my
> code to see what's happening, and to locate the source of Ruby error
> messages that do not have a line reference (exceptions, in part, I
> think).  Am I missing something on debugging technique?

Well, #inspect and #class are interesting tools to do debugging, 
especially coupled with "puts", or "p" for a more "raw" output.

> I'd really like to use an IDE with a step-through debugger.  Can someone
> recommend one that runs on Macs?

NetBeans should, and so should Komodo Edit (not sure about its debugging 
support, but it should support the ruby-debugger gem).

I'd advise you to grab NetBeans' Ruby distribution (comes bundled with a 
recent-ish JRuby version, even), since it simplifies the overwhelming 
nature of most IDEs, at least a little, and supports basically any Ruby 
version you can find, as long as you tell NetBeans where yours lives.

> One other question (that I should have asked initially): is this forum
> appropriate for posting newbie questions, or would another be more
> appropriate?

It certainly is appropriate. :)

--
Phillip Gawlowski