Ruby

As I continue work on my website at home, despite the help a WYSIWYG program like Dreamweaver gives, I've come to a point where there is no hiding the fact that I need to expand my computer language proficiency. HTML seemed to have been a good starting point and it seems that having a better understanding of Javascript and AJAX and PHP is the appropriate next step. I took a little bit of a sidestep when I came across Ruby. Specifically the Ruby website here.

"This is cool stuff", I thought. I can download the ruby interpreter and I can make the computer type my name backwards and arrange numbers and do simple math. It reminded me of 1st grade where we were exposed to "basic" programming. What fun that was! We even used basic programming to control the movement of a small robot (damn those Ann Arbor school districts were ahead of the curve).

Having "passed" the mini ruby tutorials I was confident that before I try to teach myself something else, I am going to focus on Ruby. In addition, I had seen lots of Ruby on Rails books that claim to have you more or less "up and running" in minutes...whatever up and running means.

So I went ahead and got a Ruby on Rails for Dummies book. I usually try to stay away from the dummies series, mostly because thats admitting I'm a dummy. While I usually don't have a problem with that, when it comes to buying how to books at the bookstore, I do.

About a year ago my boss was amazed when she discovered that none of us "kids" new programming. Shocked that we eluded programming classes in our Planning programs. I wasn't sure at the time but I wouldn't be surprised if she was talking about punch cards...I digress.

So I started following along in my dummies book... This stuff is confusing the hell out of me! I spent hours just trying to make sure that I had everything installed properly and configuring my database ((Mysql and Mysql administrator (yes those are two separate programs) have proven to be a beasts in their own right). In addition I have taken the first steps to creating a facebook application but so far all you get when you visit that is an error message. Mind you, I'm laughing as a type this.

Anyway, just like MICHIGAN I will not be deterred, it will be a bumpy road with embarrassing losses but hopefully I'll be able to create some things I'm proud of and ultimately add some flair to an otherwise static website.

puts "goodbye"
goodbye
=> nil

"Ryan".reverse
"nayr"

Oh what fun!

Wish me luck and feed me advice!