Book Image

Comprehensive Ruby Programming

By : Jordan Hudgens
Book Image

Comprehensive Ruby Programming

By: Jordan Hudgens

Overview of this book

Ruby is a powerful, general-purpose programming language that can be applied to any task. Whether you are an experienced developer who wants to learn a new language or you are new to programming, this book is your comprehensive Ruby coding guide. Starting with the foundational principles, such as syntax, and scaling up to advanced topics such as big data analysis, this book will give you all of the tools you need to be a professional Ruby developer. A few of the key topics are: object-oriented programming, built-in Ruby methods, core programming skills, and an introduction to the Ruby on Rails and Sinatra web frameworks. You will also build 10 practical Ruby programs. Created by an experienced Ruby developer, this book has been written to ensure it focuses on the skills you will need to be a professional Ruby developer. After you have read this book, you will be ready to start building real-world Ruby projects.

Related Content you might be interested in

Current Title:

Small book image
Comprehensive Ruby Programming
Jordan Hudgens
Jun, 2017 | 330 pages
Small book image
The Ruby Workshop
Akshat Paul | Peter Philips | Cheyne Wallace | Dániel Szabó
Oct, 2019 | 544 pages
Small book image
From PHP to Ruby on Rails
Bernard Pineda
Dec, 2023 | 244 pages
Small book image
Polished Ruby Programming
Jeremy Evans
Jul, 2021 | 434 pages
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Preface
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Free Chapter
1
Introduction to the Ruby Programming Language
Introduction to the Ruby Programming Language
What is Ruby?
Popular sites that use Ruby
Installing Ruby on a computer
Installing different Ruby versions with RVM
Summary
2
Ruby Variables
Ruby Variables
Using variables in Ruby
Printing to the Ruby console
Getting input from the Ruby console using gets and chomp
Variable scope and variable types
Summary
3
Ruby Strings
Ruby Strings
Using strings in Ruby
String interpolation guide for Ruby
String manipulation guide
A practical implementation
String substitution guide
Split, strip, and join guides for strings
Summary
4
Working with Numbers in Ruby
Working with Numbers in Ruby
Integer arithmetic guide
Arithmetic order of operations
Difference between integers and floats
Summary
5
Ruby Methods
Ruby Methods
Creating methods in Ruby
What does a Ruby method return?
What are the differences between class and instance methods in Ruby?
Ruby proc tutorial
The Ruby lambda tutorial
What is the difference between procs and lambdas in Ruby?
Guide to method arguments in Ruby
Using splat and optional arguments in Ruby methods
Summary
6
Ruby Iterators and Loops
Ruby Iterators and Loops
The while loop guide
The each iterator method tutorial
The for...in loops tutorial
Looping over a hash
Using the select method
Using the map method – part 1
Using the map method – part 2
Summing values in an array using the inject method
Summary
7
Ruby Collections
Ruby Collections
Using arrays
Deleting items from arrays
Using push and pop for arrays
The Ruby hash tutorial
Deleting elements from a hash
Iterating over a hash for a key or value
Top hash methods in Ruby
Summary
8
Ruby Conditionals
Ruby Conditionals
The conditionals guide
Syntax for the unless conditional
Nested if...else conditionals
Guide to compound conditionals
Summary
9
Object-Oriented Programming in Ruby
Object-Oriented Programming in Ruby
Introduction to how OOP works
Ruby OOP development – setters, getters, and methods
Working with instantiation in Ruby
Creating an initializer method in a Ruby class
The working of OOP inheritance
Overview of private versus public methods
The working of polymorphism and usage of super
Dead simple OOP
SOLID OOP development – the simple responsibility principle
SOLID OOP development – the open/closed principle guide and example
SOLID OOP development – the Liskov substitution principle
SOLID OOP development – the interface segregation principle
SOLID OOP development – the dependency inversion principle
Summary
10
Working with the Filesystem in Ruby
Working with the Filesystem in Ruby
Creating a file
Reading files into a program using the File class
Deleting a file
Appending a file
Summary
11
Error Handling in Ruby
Error Handling in Ruby
Error handling tutorial
Error handling – the best practices
Developing a custom error logger in Ruby
Summary
12
Regular Expressions in Ruby
Regular Expressions in Ruby
Regular expression code example
How to validate an IP address using regular expressions
How to develop a wheel of fortune game
Summary
13
Searching with grep in Ruby
Searching with grep in Ruby
How to use grep in Ruby
How to use grep instead of the select and map methods
Summary
14
Ruby Gems
Ruby Gems
Introduction to Ruby gems
How to research Ruby gems
Summary
15
Ruby Metaprogramming
Ruby Metaprogramming
Metaprogramming introduction
How to integrate metaprogramming techniques into a custom class
How to use metaprogramming for opening and customizing the String class
How Rails use metaprogramming for the find_by method
Utilizing metaprogramming with method_missing to create methods on the fly
Incorporating respond_to_missing to conform to metaprogramming best practices
Implementing metaprogramming with define_method
Summary
16
Ruby Web Frameworks
Ruby Web Frameworks
Sinatra web framework development
Introduction to the Ruby on Rails framework
Summary
17
Working with APIs in Ruby
Working with APIs in Ruby
How to work with APIs in Ruby
How to use the httparty Ruby gem
How to create a custom API connector in Ruby
How to parse an API in Ruby
Summary
18
Ruby Algorithms
Ruby Algorithms
Introduction to sorting algorithms
Implementing the bubble sort algorithm
Implementing the quick sort algorithm
Implementing the merge sort algorithm
Implementing a prime number counting algorithm
How to code the power digit sum algorithm
Implementing a humanize counting algorithm
Implementing a date algorithm
How to code a Fibonacci digit counter
Implementing a permutation algorithm
Implementing an amicable number algorithm
Implementing a factorial algorithm
Implementing an even Fibonacci number algorithm
Implementing the least common multiple
Summary
19
Machine Learning
Machine Learning
Big data analysis
Basic decision tree implementation
How to develop a big data analysis application in Ruby
Summary

Installing Ruby on a computer

Before we can start programming, you'll need to get Ruby installed on your system. I'm going to walk you through how you can install it on your computer regardless of your operating system, and I'll also give you alternate options if you don't want to install Ruby locally (however I highly recommend installing it).

Ruby language dashboard

Let's start by going to http://ruby-lang.org:

When you click on the Download Ruby button, it will take you to the following page:

This page gives you information on how to install Ruby on your system.

If you are using the Windows operating system, follow these steps:

  1. Go to rubyinstaller.org:
  1. From this list, you can pick the stable version you want, I recommend that you go with the latest stable version. When you click on any of these links, the installer will run and you will be ready to go.

If you're using macOS, Ruby is already installed on your system. To check this follow these steps:

  1. I created a file called do_I_have_ruby.rb, which has only one line of code in it:
     puts "Yes, you have Ruby!"
  1. Next, go to your Terminal (make sure that you're in the same directory as your Ruby file) and run the file with the following command:
      ruby do_I_have_ruby.rb

This should display your string, if Ruby is properly installed:

If you don't feel comfortable creating and running a Ruby file like this, you can simply type irb into a Terminal window and if it opens up it means that you have Ruby. You can also type ruby -v to have the system show you what version of Ruby is installed.

One thing that you can do if you are using the Mac or Linux operating systems is to use the Ruby Version Manager (RVM). This gives you the flexibility to use different Ruby versions for different projects.

To install RVM, go to http://rvm.io, and here you will find the Terminal commands that you can simply copy and paste in your Terminal:

Once you've installed RVM, type rvm list and this should list out all the Ruby versions on your system. If you want to change versions you can call the use command. For example, type in your Terminal to switch to Ruby version 2.4.0:

rvm 2.4.0

If you don't want to install Ruby on your local system, but still want to learn how to build Ruby programs, you can go to http://repl.it/languages. This should give you the list of languages available in the repl.it dashboard. When you click on Ruby, it will take you to a Terminal that will render all your Ruby code.

I tend to use this site if I have to quickly debug an algorithm or a confusing script. It's a great tool because you're able to get a side-by-side perspective on your code with its output:

So that's how you install Ruby! Now with that installed, you're ready to start learning how to build Ruby programs!

Previous Section
End of Section 4
Next Section