rubydoes.net

I have a pretty large queue of posts on why Ruby on .NET is important. Here’s my first attempt to convince you :0)

IronRuby will make Ruby the language much more accessible to the .NET developer. With the platform and libraries I’m already familiar with (Console, System.Windows.Forms, …) I can concentrate first on the language without worrying about all the periphery “stuff”. And if I get stuck I can always grab a familiar .NET library and move forward.

One of the things I struggled with when initially learning Ruby was finding useful things to do that were within the grasp of limited knowledge of the libraries. John Lam’s RubyCLR demo of using Ruby code with a WinForms app got me excited that I could find useful ways to learn Ruby. Combining my existing knowledge of WinForms with Ruby seemed to open a lot of possibilities for me. I’m sure others would find the same experience.

One argument I’ll try to make is that Ruby is a powerful language that a .NET developer should add to their arsenal. Another is that there is so much a .NET developer can learn from the existing Ruby literature, libraries and code.

Both require at least a cursory understanding of the language. Indeed even if you want to contradict my view, you’ll have a better chance convincing me or others if you’re coming from a position of knowledege - having that understanding of the language.

Some .NET developers may just want to play with Ruby to check it out.

No matter your motivation a lower entry bar is a good thing.

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