Started out with ruby, but have some regrets. Not sure what to do. Help?

ruby-talk
1

So, to start, I basically returned to college for a second degree
(graduated recently), to try to get a CS degree. I had to stop though
due to money issues.

I now have a full time job not related to programming. However, I
really enjoy programming and overall want to start building and making
stuff.

I went with ruby because many people recommended it. Many people said
it would be a good one to start with (I was using Java when I was in
college the second time).

I began learning it on my own. I am actually about to finish a course I
paid for to learn ruby. After I finished it, I planned on building some
different things.

For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
/r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
certain subreddit (percentage).

Also, I was looking to build maybe bots that posted for me. Say, you
build one that posts statistics if a certain thing occurs or does a
certain activity.

When I asked about this, everyone said to use python. So, now I'm just
frusterated.

In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
for website stuff.

However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
a language and pick one that is right for my goals.

I just would love some real advice. I really want to pick a language
that has to most resources for learning. I'm scared ruby was once
popular and now the resources aren't there anymore. I just don't know.

Thanks for any help or advice :/.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

2

I went with ruby because many people recommended it. Many people said
it would be a good one to start with (I was using Java when I was in
college the second time).

I began learning it on my own. I am actually about to finish a course I
paid for to learn ruby. After I finished it, I planned on building some
different things.

For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
/r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
certain subreddit (percentage).

I've built web spiders in the past, but that was a decade ago. These days I would recommend looking at WATIR and using that library to drive a web browser. I used that last summer with good results.

Also, I was looking to build maybe bots that posted for me. Say, you
build one that posts statistics if a certain thing occurs or does a
certain activity.

Same tool.

When I asked about this, everyone said to use python. So, now I'm just
frusterated.

In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
for website stuff.

There are lots of other Ruby tools besides Rails.

However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
a language and pick one that is right for my goals.

I just would love some real advice. I really want to pick a language
that has to most resources for learning. I'm scared ruby was once
popular and now the resources aren't there anymore. I just don't know.

Ruby is still very popular. Python picked up some libraries for mathematics and scientific programming early on and has got a strong user base in those kind of communities. Python is also a good language, but requires a bit of a different mindset.

-- Matt
It's not what I know that counts.
It's what I can remember in time to use.

···

On Tue, 3 Dec 2013, JD JD wrote:

3

Mechanize (http://mechanize.rubyforge.org/\) is perfect for this. I've used
it very happily for years.

Although Reddit has an API, so you may not need to drop to the level of
screen-scraping. There are even Ruby gems, such as this one:

···

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 10:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
/r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
certain subreddit (percentage).

4

You're going down a perfectly fine path... but don't take just one.
It's more like an open field, or a network of city streets, than a
forest with paths through it. Learn raw Ruby, then some frameworks
like Rails (including add-ons like ERb/HAML, SASS/LESS, CoffeeScript,
etc.) and maybe Sinatra and Padrino and so on, sure... but also learn
Python, its popular libraries and frameworks, JavaScript (hard to
avoid if you're doing web stuff anyway), its popular etc., maybe even
some very different things Scala, Clojure, Erlang, Haskell, whatever.
Also dive deep into the machine and learn C, maybe even assembly, so
you have a better understanding of what's going on under the hood.
(In the case of Ruby, especially learn C, as that may help you grok
what MRI is doing under its hood.) Learn enough of them that you can
*pull back* from the down-in-the-weeds view of a given language, and
get familiar with the linguistic patterns and meta-concepts. This may
sound like touchy-feely woo-woo to you now, but trust me, it will help
you immensely....

-Dave

···

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 10:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
for website stuff.

However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
a language and pick one that is right for my goals.

--
Dave Aronson, the T. Rex of Codosaurus LLC (codosaur.us),
freelance software developer, and creator of these sites:
PullRequestRoulette.com, blog.codosaur.us, & Dare2XL.com.

5

Ruby is well suited to website interaction. Indeed, it's a language I
chose specifically because I wanted to automate website work.

I recommend Mechanize for sites where JavaScript is not essential, and
Watir-Webdriver for sites which rely on Javascript. For the simple
stuff, there's open-uri.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

6

second mechanize
with nokogiri for parsing html and xml.

Some pesudo code would look like:

m = WWW.mechanize.new
Page p = m.get 'reddit.org; # this is mechanize using http
get method to get web page content
p.get('//users') # this is the xpath and nokogiri comes in, to get a
specific element from html downloaded

···

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 2:37 PM, Avdi Grimm <groups@inbox.avdi.org> wrote:

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 10:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
/r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
certain subreddit (percentage).

Mechanize (http://mechanize.rubyforge.org/\) is perfect for this. I've
used it very happily for years.

Although Reddit has an API, so you may not need to drop to the level of
screen-scraping. There are even Ruby gems, such as this one:
GitHub - samsymons/RedditKit.rb: [Deprecated] A Ruby wrapper for the reddit API

7

Did I talk to you on irc last night (my irc nick is "pontiki") ?

···

On Dec 2, 2013, at 9:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

So, to start, I basically returned to college for a second degree
(graduated recently), to try to get a CS degree. I had to stop though
due to money issues.

I now have a full time job not related to programming. However, I
really enjoy programming and overall want to start building and making
stuff.

I went with ruby because many people recommended it. Many people said
it would be a good one to start with (I was using Java when I was in
college the second time).

I began learning it on my own. I am actually about to finish a course I
paid for to learn ruby. After I finished it, I planned on building some
different things.

For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
/r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
certain subreddit (percentage).

Also, I was looking to build maybe bots that posted for me. Say, you
build one that posts statistics if a certain thing occurs or does a
certain activity.

When I asked about this, everyone said to use python. So, now I'm just
frusterated.

In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
for website stuff.

However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
a language and pick one that is right for my goals.

I just would love some real advice. I really want to pick a language
that has to most resources for learning. I'm scared ruby was once
popular and now the resources aren't there anymore. I just don't know.

Thanks for any help or advice :/.

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

8

Thanks for the responses (thanks for that too Dave, that was really
helpful to read). I think you all are right and ruby is probably fine
for now.

Also, when I get into this, I will try to look into what some of you
suggested. I may just move into RoR after this and do this as a side
project. Not really sure yet. Still a lot to learn it seems. But it
sounds like I have a few options from some of these responses.

···

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

9

What's to regret? Grok the concepts not the syntax! Ruby is conceived from
many languages before it. Find out what those are and learn about them. For
an everyday language any dynamic language will do.

···

On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 4:26 PM, Tamara Temple <tamouse.lists@gmail.com>wrote:

Did I talk to you on irc last night (my irc nick is "pontiki") ?

On Dec 2, 2013, at 9:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

> So, to start, I basically returned to college for a second degree
> (graduated recently), to try to get a CS degree. I had to stop though
> due to money issues.
>
> I now have a full time job not related to programming. However, I
> really enjoy programming and overall want to start building and making
> stuff.
>
> I went with ruby because many people recommended it. Many people said
> it would be a good one to start with (I was using Java when I was in
> college the second time).
>
> I began learning it on my own. I am actually about to finish a course I
> paid for to learn ruby. After I finished it, I planned on building some
> different things.
>
> For example, I wanted to build some bots that did things for me. For
> example, reddit is a big website. I wanted to do two things on it.
> One, I wanted to create something that could search a particular
> username that I entered and return something I was lookinng for. For
> example, maybe pictures they posted in a certain subreddit (say
> /r/funny). Or return statistics on a user, say how much they post in a
> certain subreddit (percentage).
>
> Also, I was looking to build maybe bots that posted for me. Say, you
> build one that posts statistics if a certain thing occurs or does a
> certain activity.
>
> When I asked about this, everyone said to use python. So, now I'm just
> frusterated.
>
> In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
> term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
> for website stuff.
>
> However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
> a language and pick one that is right for my goals.
>
> I just would love some real advice. I really want to pick a language
> that has to most resources for learning. I'm scared ruby was once
> popular and now the resources aren't there anymore. I just don't know.
>
> Thanks for any help or advice :/.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

10

Thx，that's just take a lifelong time.

在 2013年12月3日，下午10:39，Dave Aronson <rubytalk2dave@davearonson.com> 写道：

···

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 10:03 PM, JD JD <lists@ruby-forum.com> wrote:

In the long run, I want to design webpages/web apps/etc.. In the short
term, I wanted to get some practice with ruby before moving onto RoRails
for website stuff.

However, I'm just scared I'm going down the wrong path. I need to learn
a language and pick one that is right for my goals.

You're going down a perfectly fine path... but don't take just one.
It's more like an open field, or a network of city streets, than a
forest with paths through it. Learn raw Ruby, then some frameworks
like Rails (including add-ons like ERb/HAML, SASS/LESS, CoffeeScript,
etc.) and maybe Sinatra and Padrino and so on, sure... but also learn
Python, its popular libraries and frameworks, JavaScript (hard to
avoid if you're doing web stuff anyway), its popular etc., maybe even
some very different things Scala, Clojure, Erlang, Haskell, whatever.
Also dive deep into the machine and learn C, maybe even assembly, so
you have a better understanding of what's going on under the hood.
(In the case of Ruby, especially learn C, as that may help you grok
what MRI is doing under its hood.) Learn enough of them that you can
*pull back* from the down-in-the-weeds view of a given language, and
get familiar with the linguistic patterns and meta-concepts. This may
sound like touchy-feely woo-woo to you now, but trust me, it will help
you immensely....

-Dave

--
Dave Aronson, the T. Rex of Codosaurus LLC (codosaur.us),
freelance software developer, and creator of these sites:
PullRequestRoulette.com, blog.codosaur.us, & Dare2XL.com.