Ruby is one of the easiest and most comfortable programming languages in existence, and it is the choice of many web developers. It is a dynamic, open-source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has a syntax that is natural to read and easy to write. This is not uncommon for modern languages, but Ruby is extremely user-friendly even by modern standards. For this reason, Ruby has been called ‘a programmer’s best friend.’

Code in Ruby

Treehouse online courses has a Ruby category which includes 25 courses and 14 workshops. There is also a Ruby learning track, which is the place where newcomers can begin their Ruby education. The track is 13 hours long, and at the end of it, students know how to create basic Ruby programs. The track teaches object oriented programming, as well as how to use Ruby’s built-in types and constructs. The track also teaches students how to creating their own types and constructs. Furthermore, students who complete the learning track will have the option of branching out and exploring the language on their own.

There is also a learning track devoted to Ruby on Rails, which is a framework for using Ruby. It was released in 2005, and is commonly used for developing web applications. Students who complete the Ruby on Rails track will be able to begin their career in companies and startups who use it. Fun Fact: Treehouse’s websites is maintained using Ruby on Rails.

Examples of some of the courses which are available: Ruby Gems, Build a Todo List Application with Rails 4, Installing a Ruby Development Environment, and Rails Layouts and CSS Frameworks.

Course Review: Build a Simple Ruby on Rails Application

This is a long course, which explores the Rails framework. It is a course which is project-based. The final project consists of building a social networking web application, with features which are similar to Facebook. Ruby on Rails makes it easy to create dynamic web sites, quickly and efficiently. This course is taught by Jim Hoskins and Jason Seifer.

The topics covered in this course are:

• 

  Ruby on Rail

  Introduction to Rails

• Front-End Development
• Creating an Authentication System
• Form Customization
• Writing Tests
• URL Design
• App Testing
• Building a Profile Page
• Deploying App

This is a relatively long course, lasting nearly nine hours and consisting of nine modules. These are packed with information, code challenges, and extra credit work, as well as short assessment quizzes.

About the Instructors: Jim Hoskins and Jason Seifer

Hoskins is a full stack software developer at Treehouse. He enjoys blogging, teaching, and speaking at conferences. He writes for Think Vitamin as well, and likes to share his knowledge and expertise with others.

Seifer is a Treehouse Ruby teacher. He has also created a popular web-based employee scheduling app. He enjoys podcasting, cycling, and reading.

Course Review: ActiveRecord Basics

This course is taught by Hampton Catlin. ActiveRecord is responsible for business data and logic. It sits at the heart of what makes Rails an amazing tool for building complex, data-driven websites. In this course, get a powerful overview of all of ActiveRecord’s parts and become familiar with its more powerful features.

Instructor Hampton Catlin

This course covers the following topics:

• Introduction to ActiveRecord
• Migrations
• Relationships
• Validation
• Query Interface
• Callbacks
• ActiveRecord Extensions

This course is nearly five hours long. It consists of six modules, and has lectures, coding exercises, and a short assessment quiz.

About the Instructor: Hampton Catlin

Catlin is an internet Treehouse guest teacher, specializing in Ruby and CSS. He is a programmer who is passionate about product design and facilitating global human interaction. Catlin is the creator of Sass, Haml, m.wikipedia.org, and Moovweb. He’s also the founder of the libsass project, and the co-author of “The Pragmatic Guide to Sass.” Catlin is a worldwide speaker on products, software, and leadership.

Ruby was built on a bed of ideals and blends of languages. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, tried to create a language which is natural, not necessarily simple. What he ended up with was a language which is called beautiful and artful by its fans. Ruby manages to balance functional programming with imperative programming.

Ruby

Matz’s Ruby program was released publicly in 1995. It achieved worldwide recognition in 2006, when Ruby-related forums and groups gained immense popularity. The language is completely object-oriented, and it is part of what makes it so powerful. It is an expressive and visually appealing.

Much of Ruby’s syntax can look familiar to developers of Perl, Python, and Java (to name a few). If you have written in those programs and have some experience with them, learning Ruby will be an easy transition.

Treehouse’s experts can help any user – whether novice or expert – to advance their skills and become better coders than they are today. Anything from Treehouse App development to business development skills can be learned through using this great online platform!