From: Phillip Gawlowski Date: 2011-04-14T00:03:31+09:00 Subject: Re: Ruby for beginners (was: Re: Hello) On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 4:48 PM, Vincent Manis wrote: > > Just to make it clear, I am *ABSOLUTELY NOT* thinking of building another editor. > My operative philosophy comes from Tom Lehrer's song, `Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky', > on how to succeed as a mathematician: IOW: Good artists create, great artists steal. ;) Good thing for open source and Creative Commons licensing. > As for Tk not appearing with current Ruby installers, oops on my part. How often do you check for Tk? ;) > So. How do we get an IDLE-like editor that will work at least on Windows and Mac that is > plausible to ship as part of the installers? Preferrably, something written once, yet running everywhere. I'd suggest using JRuby, and a JRuby-based editor, that is easy to use, yet works well enough with Ruby (it doesn't have to be perfect: A newby who wants to explore programming in the first place isn't going to complain about having the wrong editor, as as long as there is *an* editor). Redcar looks very simple, and meets the criteria, so I'm taking the liberty of investigating it a bit more. As for dealing with a potential lack of a Java VM: It's possible to have a (Windows) installer check for, and then install Java. Likewise, you could offer a default download that includes Java (vendor'd, possibly), and one without Java. The downside is that JRuby, great as it is, doesn't allow for C extensions as seamlessly as the Windows Ruby with Devkit (I'm sure Charles will now drop in and correct me :) ). OTOH, the end of a "Ruby for newby" guide could include a means of getting a more, er, conventional Ruby installed and set up. -- Phillip Gawlowski Though the folk I have met, (Ah, how soon!) they forget When I've moved on to some other place, There may be one or two, When I've played and passed through, Who'll remember my song or my face.