From: Fabio Cevasco Date: 2011-02-03T06:39:40+09:00 Subject: Re: Totally lost in learning Ruby +1 for Vim I've been using Vim for years and I never looked back. To be honest, others may say the same for Emacs, I think. Bottom line is: no need of buying an editor or IDE when there are already free editors that are so close to perfection :-) Fabio Cevasco ======================== web: http://www.h3rald.com twitter: http://twitter.com/h3rald On 2 Feb 2011, at 22:14, Stu wrote: > I agree with Sam here Hilary. > > There have been many holy wars on the internet since the beginning of > time on which text editor to use to write programs and scripts. (see: > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Editor_war) > > My suggestion is to take a day( or two) and learn vim, a clone of vi. > It is a fairly simple to learn editor which provides syntax > highlighting and completion for ruby as well as many plugins to aid > development for ruby on rails and give the editor ide-like > capabilities. > > Historically vi was the first visual text editor and was written as an > alternative to 'ed' the UNIX line editor. vi in some form or another > is found on every unix and linux system. This is one reason you might > find it a preference for admins and programmers. You can get vim for > windows here: http://www.vim.org/ > > You can run the command 'vimtutor' which is packaged with it and run > though the tutorial. > > vi(m) is a pretty venerable tool. Learning anything with it will stick > with you for the rest of your life with no cost outside of simply > learning it. If you really feel money should be exchanged the initial > author of the clone has charity he prefers: > http://www.vim.org/sponsor/ > > But as with anything and everything in the open source and free > software universe; take the time to learn the tools so you can be > productive with them when the time comes. > > Once again good luck with your future programming and hacking. > > ~ > > On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Sam Duncan wrote: >> Hi Hilary, >> I haven't been following the thread, but I wonder why you would buy an >> IDE? There are lots of really good free ones, and arguably using a language/ >> toolkit agnostic one is better for your health. Also, any reason you are >> going with Ruby 1.8.x vs Ruby 1.9.x - I don't know a lot about rails, but if >> you are coming to the language cold, you probably don't want to learn old >> idioms, only to have to unlearn them again later? >> >> Sam >> >> >> On 03/02/11 07:30, Hilary Bailey wrote: >>> >>> Based on the responses received I am leaned toward the following study >>> guide: >>> >>> A) since I intend to use the internet as the major source of >>> communication, learning ruby through Rails may be my starting point. I >>> installed Ruby 1.8.7, Rails 3.0.3, with Sqlite3 (1.3.3 x86 -mingw32) >>> >>> A1) Download Devkit for use as a Ruby source of reference >>> >>> A2) use the Ruby Gem web asa source of Ruby support >>> >>> B) before delving into Ruby or Rails, I will learn critical basics from >>> w3.schools.com, from which I will cover: HTML, CSS and JavaScript >>> >>> C) purchase Ruby mine-code editor from http://www.jetbrains.com/ruby, >>> using their 30 day free trial prom, to use while finally learning Ruby >>> through Rails >>> >>> C1) get started to learn Ruby/Rails. By first taking a 15 minute >>> tour/intro from http://tryruby.org >>> >>> C2) continue quest by >>> submerging into Rails through www.digitalmediaminute.com tutorials. >>> >>> C3) start placing my then practiced scripts + other saved practiced >>> tools, into a database of choice so to start dev a project >>> >>> D) hopefully at this point I will be able to clarify in my mind which >>> database source to use, what supporting instruments needed to be >>> attached, etc.. to make a meaningful log-in program that will reflect >>> real time, with the ability to gather, configure and interpret data. >>> >>> If my analysis seems naïve, please understand, and I think you do, my >>> enthusiasm for using the open Source community as a savior to my woes. >>> >>> What do you think? I know that I have over simplified the whole nature >>> of programming, however at this stage I think I will be forgiven for >>> bypassing some unmentioned stage/application/procedure. >>> >>> >> >> >