Ruby, Eclipse AND Rails

Last February I mentioned here that I was going to try to learn Ruby. Regardless of the name, it really seems to be a gem of a programming language. Finding Eclipse -

Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle. A large and vibrant ecosystem of major technology vendors, innovative start-ups, universities, research institutions and individuals extend, complement and support the Eclipse platform.

- also made me hungry again (after some 12-15 years) to tinker with code. After installing and trying Eclipse and Ruby in the spring - time got the better of me.

Then last week I read an item from October's PC PRO - 'A total Eclipse'.

I removed Ruby, who am I trying to kid!

It was time to check out Ruby AND Rails -

Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives you a pure-Ruby development environment. To go live, all you need to add is a database and a web server.

I installed INSTANT RAILS and it's awe inspiring; so much to learn, but it really feels like the motor's running. I've had the Rails book since the spring with one reading and now the mini library (Ajax, PHP, Drupal, DOM Scripting) I managed to put together is paying dividends (I think!).

So now Aptana is plugged into Eclipse and I'm up to Part II - Building an Application (just to put things into perspective that's p. 51/719 actually!).
If you follow this blog, you may be thinking he has dropped Drupal! Far from it. I can't wait for this Wednesday night and the meeting at Manchester Digital Development Agency. Books aren't the whole story: I have to add that installing Drupal, screwing up, deleting, installing again and finding some stability at last... such that I can check out the innards of Drupal (play!) has helped me enormously in starting with Ruby, Rails and Eclipse. Hope I can maintain this momentum.

I've also noticed the ads for Ruby and Rails hosting too - wish I could find a sponsor or two...

Spreading the cognitive and temporal jam yet further - I've downloaded Inkscape's Vector Graphics editor. Still need a decent banner (and finish the socio-tech paper - must contact the editors!).