[ruby-talk:04476] Getting started

So, I'd have to say that (so far) Ruby looks like exactly what I need.
Good job matz and team!  I'm converting from perl/python (makes Ruby
the perfect choice eh? ;) ).

I just installed the interpreter, so where do I get started?  I hit the
ruby homepage, but I swear I didn't see a tutorial there.  Most of it
seems easy enough, the iterator is getting me a bit (i.e. |x|).  Can
someone help a brotha' out?  Also, I noticed that a book will be
available (in English) in October, is this still the correct
timeframe?  What's the title?  Any plans for an O'Reilly series.

I can't speak too educatedly on Ruby but it seems like it's perfect
(for me at least).  Perl was getting on my nerves, I couldn't read my
own stuff (and I write pretty clean perl code).  Python's modules seem
second rate in quality (I can deal without the mass that perl has
(although I'd rather not), but just the quality wasn't there), I
haven't looked a Ruby's yet which brings me to another question...is
there a perldoc or print <function>.__doc__ equivalent in Ruby?  I
thought I read that there was, but what is it?  And how do I find out
about the available libraries and their capabilities?

Thanks guys!

P.S. one last thing, does Ruby support unicode (I can only imagine that
it does, author being japanese and all...just making sure).

P.P.S. another thing that was bugging me about Perl and Python is the
current instability in the languages.  Perl is headed for a MAJOR
overhaul, as is python (not quite so major).  I know this is a
difficult question, but is there anything in Ruby's future signalling
for an rewrite? (please say no, please say no ;) ).  I've got an Open
source program that is probably quite broken with the new (1.6) version
of python.  I'd like to avoid having to rewrite things in the future.

-- With all these parenthesis, you'd think I use lisp ;)


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.