Digital Sanctum

In my last post of this series I talked about my motivations for moving to Ruby from Java. This time around I’m going to talk a bit about the supporting tools in Ruby.

Note: This is a post in progress.

Platform Installers

Windows

Mac

Linux

Ruby Gems

Ruby Gems is basically a package installer for Ruby. The package can be anything from a simple library to a full blown application or framework such as Ruby on Rails or even an application server to run Rails. For anyone using Ruby, Ruby Gems is a crucial tool to know how to use. I’ve made a note as part of my study of Ruby to memorize the commands although they’re starting to sink in now that I’ve used them a bit.

App Servers for Running Ruby

1. WEBrick
2. Mongrel
3. lighttpd

The Ruby IDEs

1. TextMate (mac only) - “TextMate brings Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors. By bridging UNIX underpinnings and GUI, TextMate cherry-picks the best of both worlds to the benefit of expert scripters and novice users alike.”
   From what I’ve read, anyone who is a Ruby hacker and works on a mac uses TextMate. I’ve also read that there’s no plan to port TextMate to another platform. I’ve played with it a bit on my old G4, and it seems to have all the features you’d expect from a top of the line editor and nothing more. Although TextMate seems like a nice editor and the price is right (39 Euros or just over 52 bux by todays conversion rate). Bottom line, it’s not enough to ween me off using Ubuntu for my primary workstation but if a mac was my primary, I’d snatch it up and start using it pronto.
2. RadRails - a dedicated editor built on the Eclipse platform.
3. JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA Ruby Plug-in - I’m such a passionate user of IDEA I’ve not only decided to use it for my Java AND Ruby development but also contribute time to helping write the plug-in! I won’t go into the whole Eclipse vs. Netbeans vs. IDEA debate because I realize part of the reason I don’t want to switch is good old fashion laziness. I’ve been using IDEA for most of my professional career and as long as they keep adding great features and competing head-to-head with the other editors out there, I’m sticking to my guns!
4. jEdit (plug-in)
5. Arachno
6. Komodo
7. Mondrian
8. Freeride
9. RDT (Ruby Development Tools) for Eclipse
10. Ruby In Steel (for Visual Studio 2005)
11. SciTE
12. UltraEdit (windows only)
13. vim

Continous Integration Servers