From: Florian Gross <flgr@...>
Date: 2004-01-10T07:12:22+09:00
Subject: Re: Should a newbie learn 1.6 or 1.8?

Steve Cooper wrote:
> I'm just starting to learn Ruby, and I've purchased Ruby in a Nutshell
> and Programming Ruby.  Both are based on version 1.6.  Which version
> should I use as I learn the language?  1.6 will correspond to the
> documentation I have.  If I installed 1.8, I could see spending time
> dealing with situations where my program doesn't work and after a lot
> of head-scratching I eventually figure out that the reason is the new
> behavior of 1.8.  Any recommendations?

I'd suggest using 1.8 because changes usually shouldn't be all that 
critical.

The good thing about 1.8 are all the subtle enhancements that you would 
have expected to be in 1.6.8 anyway. If you still run into compatibility 
problems you can always ask on this mailing list. :)

Another bonus is that you'll likely be able to run code posted on this 
mailing list and other where with the new version.

> I kind of wish there were some labels I could print out and stick on
> the appropriate pages of "Programming Ruby" that said "This has
> changed in version 1.8."

http://dev.faeriemud.org/changes-1.8.0.html and 
http://whytheluckystiff.net/articles/2003/08/04/rubyOneEightOh will list 
some of the nice new features, but they aren't complete unfortunately.

You can also always consult the change log which comes with Ruby.

> Thanks, 
> Steve

Regards,
Florian Gross