Ruby is "an interpreted scripting language for quick and easy object-oriented programming"; what does this mean?
interpreted scripting language:
- ability to make operating system calls directly
- powerful string operations and regular expressions
- immediate feedback during development
quick and easy:
- variable declarations are unnecessary
- variables are not typed
- syntax is simple and consistent
- memory management is automatic
object oriented programming:
- everything is an object
- classes, inheritance, methods, etc.
- singleton methods
- mixin by module
- iterators and closures
also:
- multiple precision integers
- exception processing model
- dynamic loading
- threads
If you are unfamiliar with some of the concepts above, read on, and don't worry. The mantra of the ruby language is quick and easy .
