How I did it: I learned ruby a few years ago, around version 1.6.0. I just downloaded the interpreter, downloaded the 'pick axe book', and started hacking. I Think the first coherent piece of software I wrote in ruby was an IRC bot that said goofy things whenever people tripped certain triggers.

I just read documentation, looked at other peoples code, and used the language as often as I could. Easy.

Lessons & tips:

• When learning a new programming language (other than your first) its a good idea to bring a few small hobby projects with you, somethig you have implemented in another programming language, that you are fairly familiar with.

Resources:

• The pickaxe book (Programming in Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers Guide)
• the comp.lang.ruby newsgroup/mailinglist
• the freenode #rubylang irc chat room

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Oct 20, 2008, 12:56AM PDT | 1 comment | 4 cheers