# Getting started with full sized apps... how? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [July 26, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494 "2007-07-26T20:52:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/1 "2007-07-26T20:52:42Z")
Ok. First, I should say that I think highly of the Ruby language. I have written cool snippets and life is good. I should say that I have developed in many languages currently focused on Delphi. Now, when I write an app, I make an interface that has things for the user to see with buttons to push and keep him playing happily. I find that, without a regular interface, I am somewhat at a loss for making usable applications. I am not any more interested in a purely command line approach now than I was when i was writing batch files to do it all for me. That having been said, I am not finding the golden path to making wonderful ruby apps with no easy interface. Even practicing with the language is problematic as I never seem to write methods longer than a couple dozen lines and that doth not an app make. So, as someone that wants to get as much mileage out of ruby as everyone else seems to be getting, where do I start? What kinds of things are being done by those that say that their apps are all but running the universe itself? Where to I go to get a start on the larger side of ruby? Thanks for any advice you can offer. ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/2 "2007-07-26T21:57:23Z")
Well, I’m not sure quite how to answer your questions. Getting more mileage out of any language is as simple as using the language for more and more tasks; where you would usually use java/c++/perl/python, use Ruby. I’m not sure how one would define the “larger side of Ruby.” There is no “golden path” to any piece of software, and in fact there’s a popular paper on the subject: “No Silver Bullet” by Brookes\*. Highly recommended read. I guess the best advice one can give is to ask questions. Give yourself a project that you know will make you dive into more of the language’s features and don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know. So in your case, maybe you can start with an app you’ve written in Delphi and port it over to Ruby. Then you know what you need to do and just need to figure out the implementation details. Hope that helps, and welcome to Ruby! Jason - [http://info.computer.org/portal/site/computer/menuitem.eb7d70008ce52e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=computer\_level1&path=computer/homepage/misc/Brooks&file=index.xml&xsl=article.xsl&;jsessionid=Gyx5vsGNJL46Ghh2L8ycWWM2XGnDX5gq654cVWyFGnc4vn2WvHkL!-267347837](http://info.computer.org/portal/site/computer/menuitem.eb7d70008ce52e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=computer_level1&path=computer/homepage/misc/Brooks&file=index.xml&xsl=article.xsl&;jsessionid=Gyx5vsGNJL46Ghh2L8ycWWM2XGnDX5gq654cVWyFGnc4vn2WvHkL!-267347837) [http://info.computer.org/portal/site/computer/menuitem.eb7d70008ce52e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=computer\_level1&path=computer/homepage/misc/Brooks&file=index.xml&xsl=article.xsl&;jsessionid=Gyx5vsGNJL46Ghh2L8ycWWM2XGnDX5gq654cVWyFGnc4vn2WvHkL!-267347837](http://info.computer.org/portal/site/computer/menuitem.eb7d70008ce52e4b0ef1bd108bcd45f3/index.jsp?&pName=computer_level1&path=computer/homepage/misc/Brooks&file=index.xml&xsl=article.xsl&;jsessionid=Gyx5vsGNJL46Ghh2L8ycWWM2XGnDX5gq654cVWyFGnc4vn2WvHkL%21-267347837) ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/3 "2007-07-26T22:24:26Z")
Jason R. wrote: > I guess the best advice one can give is to ask questions. Give yourself > a > project that you know will make you dive into more of the language’s > features and don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know. Well, therein lies the rub. If I were to start with something in a new language, say Delphi for the sake of argument, I might make a form, put an edit box for user name and a push button, and say hello to the name in the box. With something like that, I can build and make anything I can dream up in the language. I see nothing analogous in ruby (yet). I do not want to have command line prompts that get ever more convoluted as the app progresses. I need help finding the forest (the app). Trees (snippets and methods), I can make. ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/4 "2007-07-26T22:30:29Z")
On Jul 26, 2007, at 2:52 PM, Lloyd L. wrote: > Now, when I write an app, I make an interface that has things for the > user to see with buttons to push and keep him playing happily. I find > that, without a regular interface, I am somewhat at a loss for making > usable applications. I am not any more interested in a purely command > line approach now than I was when i was writing batch files to do > it all > for me. Pick one of Ruby GUI libraries and go with it. Currently, I’m using Ruby/Tk, which has it pluses and minuses, but does the job. But the are quite a few others out there to choose from. > That having been said, I am not finding the golden path to making > wonderful ruby apps with no easy interface. Even practicing with the > language is problematic as I never seem to write methods longer than a > couple dozen lines and that doth not an app make. Can’t agree with this sentiment. Long methods do not an application make. Applications are made by choosing the appropriate class libraries, implementing a set of classes that model the problem domain, providing the appropriate behavior to objects instantiated from those classes by implementing methods (usually short) which are highly leveraged on the class libraries. My methods tend to average well under your “couple dozen lines”. Regards, Morton ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/5 "2007-07-26T22:41:30Z")
On 7/26/07, Jason R. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > So you’re talking about IDEs and form builders? If you want to work with a > GUI, I’d suggest getting wxRuby: [http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl](http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl) > > There’s no drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor that I know of, but you really don’t > need one, and it doesn’t facilitate learning how to use the language > effectively. Well, if you use GTK as your GUI library, there’s Glade. You can build an interface with Glade and them hook it up to a Ruby program using ruby-libglade2. ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/6 "2007-07-26T22:32:29Z")
So you’re talking about IDEs and form builders? If you want to work with a GUI, I’d suggest getting wxRuby: [http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl](http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl) There’s no drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor that I know of, but you really don’t need one, and it doesn’t facilitate learning how to use the language effectively. Jason ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/7 "2007-07-26T22:52:31Z")
On Jul 26, 2007, at 2:52 PM, Lloyd L. wrote: > Where to I go to get a start on the larger side of ruby? You might get some ideas from Ruby Q.zes 5, 104, and 129. The participants in these quizzes implemented modest but complete applications using a variety of UI techniques, both GUI and CL. I mention these particular quizzes because I’m familiar with them. There may be (and probably are) other quizzes that qualify as complete applications by your standards. [http://www.rubyquiz.com/index.html](http://www.rubyquiz.com/index.html) Regards, Morton P.S. You might consider Rails. ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/8 "2007-07-27T03:17:55Z")
Indeed you should consider the web interface of Rails, GUI interfaces: tk, wx, even bridges RubyCocoa (write OS X apps in Ruby) for which there must be a Windows analog. Delphi is really not a language as much as a framework around a language, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@llinklater](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/llinklater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/getting-started-with-full-sized-apps-how/110494/9 "2007-07-27T15:13:36Z")
Morton G. wrote: > On Jul 26, 2007, at 2:52 PM, Lloyd L. wrote: > > > That having been said, I am not finding the golden path to making > > wonderful ruby apps with no easy interface. Even practicing with the > > language is problematic as I never seem to write methods longer than a > > couple dozen lines and that doth not an app make. > > Can’t agree with this sentiment. Long methods do not an application > make. Applications are made by choosing the appropriate class > libraries, implementing a set of classes that model the problem > domain, providing the appropriate behavior to objects instantiated > from those classes by implementing methods (usually short) which are > highly leveraged on the class libraries. My methods tend to average > well under your “couple dozen lines”. Well, I agree and I should clarify, therefore. The methods I write that are a couple dozen lines or less are as far as I have ever taken ruby. Applications require lots of such things stitched together into a whole. Methods should be as terse as possible and, in the case of something lengthy, they should be broken into smaller “bite sized” chunks which makes things go better overall. John J. wrote: > Delphi is really not a language as much as a framework around a > language, isn’t it? Well, as Borland was pretty much the only real supporter of Pascal, they, that is to say Anders H., did whatever he wanted with the language making it unique. However, with the advent of the new management of CodeGear, what you say is even more true as there is a Delphi for PHP and they will be releasing a Ruby IDE in the near future. This is what I was looking for. Thanks all! I will get on this ASAP. 🙂