Discover Ruby's simplicity and power through hands-on practice. Gain insights into variables, built-in classes, objects, and more, making you productive and happy with programming.

Do you want to learn about interpreted languages? Tired of dense syntaxes? Tired of compiling code to machine language first? Are you looking for an easy-to-use scripting language? Well, Ruby is the answer!

Ruby is a smart, easy-to-use, functional, object-oriented programming language, a wondrous mix of Perl's scripting power, Pythonic capabilities, and more! As Matsumoto, creator of Ruby, implies: "I hope to see Ruby help every programmer in the world to be productive, and to enjoy programming, and to be happy. That is the primary purpose of Ruby language."

This introductory course provides hands-on practice with the support of interactive illustrations, exercises, and the integral topics of variables, built-in classes, objects, conditionals, blocks, and more!

Ready to dive into one of the most influential and demanding third-generation programming languages? Let's get started!

Learn Ruby from Scratch

Which code snippet outputs `I am Carla`, assuming the `name` variable is initialized as follows?

```
name = "Carla"
```


Which code snippet outputs <code>I am Carla</code>, assuming the <code>name</code> variable is initialized as follows?
<pre><code>name = &quot;Carla&quot;
</code></pre>

What’s the number `5` in the following code snippet?

```ruby
def add_two(number)
  number+2
end

add_two(5)
```

What’s the number <code>5</code> in the following code snippet?
<pre><code class="language-ruby">def add_two(number)
 number+2
end

add_two(5)
</code></pre>

What does `number` serve as in the following code snippet?

```ruby
def add_two(number)
  number+2
end

add_two(5)
```

What does <code>number</code> serve as in the following code snippet?
<pre><code class="language-ruby">def add_two(number)
 number+2
end

add_two(5)
</code></pre>

The method in the following code snippet is called on what type of object?

```ruby
is_a?(Array)
```

The method in the following code snippet is called on what type of object?
<pre><code class="language-ruby">is_a?(Array)
</code></pre>

The top-level `Object`

What does the following code print?

```ruby
puts 'a\nb'
```

The top-level <code>Object</code>
What does the following code print?
<pre><code class="language-ruby">puts 'a\nb'
</code></pre>

Take a quiz on some concepts in this chapter.

The Big Picture

Variables

Built-in Class: Numeric

Built-in Class: String

Built-in Classes: TrueClass, FalseClass, and NilClass

Built-in Class: Symbol

Built-in Class: Array

Built-in Class: Hash

Objects

Methods

Operators are Methods

Blocks

Get Ready for Some More Drill!

Conditionals

Coding Challenge: Truthiness and Equivalence

Lets Run Another Lap with Hashes

Writing Classes

The Mailbox Project

Spotlight on Things Unremarked

Advanced Topics

Your Toolkit

Appendix: Mailbox Project Prerequisite

Quiz on Things Unremarked