An IBM Java Developer gives a whirlwind tour of Ruby’s syntax in this article. Worth a read. NB, this is Ruby the language, not Ruby AND Rails, the web development framework. Whoops.
As you’ve seen, Ruby’s syntax is quite different from that of the Java language, but it’s amazingly easy to pick up. Moreover, some things are just plain easier to do in Ruby than they are in the Java language.
The nice thing about learning new languages, as programming language polyglots will tell you, is that nothing says they can’t play together. Being able to code in multiple languages will make you more versatile in the face of both humdrum programming tasks and more complicated ones. It will also greatly increase your appreciation for the programming language you call home.
As I said at the beginning of this article, I’m mainly a Java developer, but I’ve found plenty of ways to include Ruby (and Groovy, and Jython …) in my bag of tricks too. And I’ve been able to do it without using Rails! If you’ve written off Ruby on Rails because you don’t actually need to build a shopping cart application in just four hours, take a closer look at Ruby on its own. I think you’ll like what you see.
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