# Just a really general Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 12, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309 "2007-02-12T15:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/1 "2007-02-12T15:46:51Z")
hey guys, listen, i am currently going to school for Graphic Design/ Web Design. While going here, going through the classes, i realized that my real love is for coding, and that stuff, much rather than the artistic stuff. So i did some CSS and HTML, and very very little PHP … and i wanted to really learn a programing language, so i asked a friend who knows various languages what he thought would be a great language to learn and he led me to Ruby… he also recommended “Learn To Program” by Chris P… I’ve been going through it, really grasping the stuff so far, but i do have one BIG question … what can be done w/ Ruby outside of my Terminal? Like what stuff can i look at to see what power Ruby has and what the point of learning this is? I hope this isn’t TOO stupid of a question … any help/ feedback would be awesome… thank you! Derek ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/2 "2007-02-12T15:59:19Z")
[http://www.rubyonrails.org/](http://www.rubyonrails.org/) is a web framework (sort of like PHP) that is powered by Ruby. It runs sites like 43things and Amazon’s UnSpun. It’s a pretty hot topic in the web development world right now. You can develop GUI applications with Ruby, web services, middleware, or pretty much anything you can do with most other languages. Perhaps perusing [www.rubyforge.org](http://www.rubyforge.org) will give you a better idea of what Ruby can do. 🙂 –Jeremy P.S. - It’s not a stupid question! On 2/12/07, Derek D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > – [http://www.jeremymcanally.com/](http://www.jeremymcanally.com/) My free Ruby e-book: [http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/](http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/) My blogs: > **[Site not found · DreamHost](http://www.mrneighborly.com/)** > > The owner of this domain has not yet uploaded their website. [http://www.rubyinpractice.com/](http://www.rubyinpractice.com/) ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 4:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/3 "2007-02-12T16:14:02Z")
Your reply helped a little bit… i guess what i really need to figure out is what exactly programming is. All i’ve ever coded was CSS and HTML, and as far as the programming stuf … i’ve only made a contact form with PHP, but further than that … i really have no idea what programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/4 "2007-02-12T17:06:26Z")
On 12.02.2007 16:14, Derek D. wrote: > Your reply helped a little bit… i guess what i really need to figure > out is what exactly programming is. All i’ve ever coded was CSS and > HTML, and as far as the programming stuf … i’ve only made a contact > form with PHP, but further than that … i really have no idea what > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 I guess then reading through a basic tutorial (or book) will help you. Once you got the basics (maybe from Chris’s tutorial) a book about data structures and algorithms will be helpful as it will not only teach you specific algorithms but also how to estimate complexity (i.e. runtime) etc. After that maybe “Object Oriented Software Construction” by Bertrand Meyer could be useful. Kind regards robert ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/5 "2007-02-12T17:40:32Z")
On Feb 12, 10:14 am, Derek D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Your reply helped a little bit… i guess what i really need to figure > out is what exactly programming is. All i’ve ever coded was CSS and > HTML, and as far as the programming stuf … i’ve only made a contact > form with PHP, but further than that … i really have no idea what > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 > > – > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. One incredibly oversimplified/overgeneralized response to this is, “Programs model things, actions and processes in the real world,” e.g. - a program that simulates flying a plane or driving a car or tells you where your car is based on a GPS device and a satellite communicating with each other. Another equally simplistic response to this is, “Programs receive input, process the input, and produce output.” e.g. - a program that reads a list of salaries from a database, calculates a percentage raise for each employee, and then stores the new salary figures back into the database. While these are oversimplified conceptions, they are also quite fundamental and true and encountered early on (implicitly if not explicitly) in any effort to learn to program. These are also useful signposts for programmers of all levels, being roughly analogous to two fundamental questions any programmer must answer when designing and coding anything, “What is this program supposed to do?” and “How will this program do what it is supposed to do?” Hope this helps and was at least in the neighborhood of the answer you were looking for. – Mark ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/6 "2007-02-12T18:00:34Z")
On 12 Feb., 16:14, Derek D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: i really have no idea what > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 if you’re a complete programming-newbie i would recommend to learn a the object-oriented (oo) basics by learning an oo-language. alltough ruby is an oo-language, there aren’t as many great newbie-books as you’ll find for (let’s say) java. a great book i can really recommend if you’re a complete programming newbie is “head first java”: [http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208/sr=8-1/qid=1171298574/ref=pd\_bbs\_sr\_1/103-2672874-3243066?ie=UTF8&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208/sr=8-1/qid=1171298574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2672874-3243066?ie=UTF8&s=books) I know, it’s java and not ruby, but you’ll learn a lot about oo- programming you’ll be able to use with other languages and i think if your roots are in design this book will help you a lot in understanding oo-programming. There are two other great books by the head-first-series handling “design patterns” and “oo analysis and design”. I don’t think it’s important in WHICH language you learn to program, it’s much more important to learn the principles of programming. Today there’s a lot of buzz about Ruby (imho legitimate buzz) but it’s very likely that there will be the same amount of buzz about another great new language in a few years…so, as I said: don’t concentrate on WHAT language to learn but how you get to learn the principles of programming. Good luck and lots of fun building software! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/7 "2007-02-13T13:05:59Z")
Robert K. wrote: > On 12.02.2007 16:14, Derek D. wrote: > > > Your reply helped a little bit… i guess what i really need to figure > > out is what exactly programming is. All i’ve ever coded was CSS and > > HTML, and as far as the programming stuf … i’ve only made a contact > > form with PHP, but further than that … i really have no idea what > > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 > > I guess then reading through a basic tutorial (or book) will help you. > Once you got the basics (maybe from Chris’s tutorial) a book about data > structures and algorithms will be helpful as it will not only teach you > specific algorithms but also how to estimate complexity (i.e. runtime) > etc. After that maybe “Object Oriented Software Construction” by > Bertrand Meyer could be useful. > > Kind regards > > robert By chris, you are referring to Chris P., right? Your reply realy helped and really started to give me an idea of what i was getting myself into ( 🙂 it sounds awesome!) Those books sound good, and being that i work at a bookstore, i can get really access to them! thanks again… ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/8 "2007-02-13T13:08:43Z")
unknown wrote: > On Feb 12, 10:14 am, Derek D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Your reply helped a little bit… i guess what i really need to figure > > out is what exactly programming is. All i’ve ever coded was CSS and > > HTML, and as far as the programming stuf … i’ve only made a contact > > form with PHP, but further than that … i really have no idea what > > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 > > > > – > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. > > One incredibly oversimplified/overgeneralized response to this is, > “Programs model things, actions and processes in the real world,” e.g. > > - a program that simulates flying a plane or driving a car or tells > you where your car is based on a GPS device and a satellite > communicating with each other. Another equally simplistic response to > this is, “Programs receive input, process the input, and produce > output.” e.g. - a program that reads a list of salaries from a > database, calculates a percentage raise for each employee, and then > stores the new salary figures back into the database. > > While these are oversimplified conceptions, they are also quite > fundamental and true and encountered early on (implicitly if not > explicitly) in any effort to learn to program. These are also useful > signposts for programmers of all levels, being roughly analogous to > two fundamental questions any programmer must answer when designing > and coding anything, “What is this program supposed to do?” and “How > will this program do what it is supposed to do?” > > Hope this helps and was at least in the neighborhood of the answer you > were looking for. > > – Mark Mark, haha, as over simplified as that was, it was exactly what i needed! Things are a bit more clear now in terms of the POWER of programming and it’s need in the world. I work at a barnes and noble, so i have plenty of books to read through, but the size of the programming area is sometimes over whelming! Anyway, thank you again. ---
**Author:** ![derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@derekteixeira](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/derekteixeira)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/just-a-really-general-question/85309/9 "2007-02-13T13:10:00Z")
Javier\_CH wrote: > On 12 Feb., 16:14, Derek D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > i really have no idea what > > > programming is or it’s uses. Thank you anyway though. 🙂 > > if you’re a complete programming-newbie i would recommend to learn a > the object-oriented (oo) basics by learning an oo-language. alltough > ruby is an oo-language, there aren’t as many great newbie-books as > you’ll find for (let’s say) java. a great book i can really recommend > if you’re a complete programming newbie is “head first java”: > > [http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208/sr=8-1/qid=1171298574/ref=pd\_bbs\_sr\_1/103-2672874-3243066?ie=UTF8&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208/sr=8-1/qid=1171298574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2672874-3243066?ie=UTF8&s=books) > > I know, it’s java and not ruby, but you’ll learn a lot about oo- > programming you’ll be able to use with other languages and i think if > your roots are in design this book will help you a lot in > understanding oo-programming. There are two other great books by the > head-first-series handling “design patterns” and “oo analysis and > design”. > > I don’t think it’s important in WHICH language you learn to program, > it’s much more important to learn the principles of programming. Today > there’s a lot of buzz about Ruby (imho legitimate buzz) but it’s very > likely that there will be the same amount of buzz about another great > new language in a few years…so, as I said: don’t concentrate on WHAT > language to learn but how you get to learn the principles of > programming. > > Good luck and lots of fun building software! 🙂 I actually used the Head First series for HTML and CSS. I really like how simple it is to understand (sometimes, it is too simplely explained), but i feel that is what i might need to get my feet wet with this stuff. I appreciate your recommendations, thanks again!