We often fear what we do not know. For many IT admins, this is Ruby code. JNUC session presenter, Chris Lasell, was on hand today to help provide clarity and ultimately alleviate users’ apprehension of coding in Ruby.
He started with some familiar names: Python, Perl, Advanced Bash, etc., and clarified that attendees already understood data types, conditionals and loops. Then Lasell introduced gem – the command for installing and working with Ruby packages.
Next he discussed irb, or interactive Ruby, a shell where users type Ruby code. “It’s useful for testing your code as you write, or for performing one-off tasks,” he explained. “’Require’ tells Ruby to read and execute some pre-written code.”