Learn the basics of Ruby with hands-on practice.

Become a Ruby Professional

Do you want to be an interpreted language geek? Are you tired of getting entangled in the dense syntaxes? Does it irritate you to compile your code to machine language first? Are you looking for an easy-to-use scripting language? Well, Ruby is the best pick for you then!
This introductory module will be providing you with hands-on practice with the support of a bunch of interactive illustrations, exercises, and the integral topics of variables, built-in classes, objects, conditionals, blocks, and much more!

Learn Ruby from Scratch

## Names of methods reflect their behavior

If we look at the methods defined on strings, arrays, or hashes (run `[].methods.sort` or `{}.methods.sort` ), then we’ll find many method names that look like they’re doing exactly what their names describe.

For example, some of the things we can do with strings are:

* `"a string".capitalize` returns `"A string"`, with the first letter uppercase.

* `"a string".length` returns `8`, which is the length of the string.

* `"a string".start_with?("a")` returns `true` because the string starts with an `"a"`.

* `"a string".include?("s")` returns `true` because the string contains the character `"s"`.

Similarly, some examples for useful methods on arrays are:

* `[5, 1, 3].sort` returns another array, with the elements sorted: `[1, 3, 5]`.

* `[5, 1, 3].size` returns `3`, the number of elements in the array.

* `[1, 1, 1, 2].uniq` returns a new array with duplicate elements removed: `[1, 2]`.

* `[1, 2, 3].join(", ")` returns a string, `"1, 2, 3"`.

* `[1, 2, 3].include?(2)` returns `true` because the array contains the number `2`.

## How do we find all these methods?

The quickest way to find a specific method for an object is to search for “ruby array sort.” That will point you to the Ruby documentation. Another way is to read through all the methods for the class on the respective Ruby documentation page. We can also read through the method names returned by `[1, 2, 3].methods.sort`.


# Names of methods reflect their behavior

If we look at the methods defined on strings, arrays, or hashes (run `[].methods.sort` or `{}.methods.sort` ), then we’ll find many method names that look like they’re doing exactly what their names describe.

For example, some of the things we can do with strings are:

* `"a string".capitalize` returns `"A string"`, with the first letter uppercase.

* `"a string".length` returns `8`, which is the length of the string.

* `"a string".start_with?("a")` returns `true` because the string starts with an `"a"`.

* `"a string".include?("s")` returns `true` because the string contains the character `"s"`.

Similarly, some examples for useful methods on arrays are:

* `[5, 1, 3].sort` returns another array, with the elements sorted: `[1, 3, 5]`.

* `[5, 1, 3].size` returns `3`, the number of elements in the array.

* `[1, 1, 1, 2].uniq` returns a new array with duplicate elements removed: `[1, 2]`.

* `[1, 2, 3].join(", ")` returns a string, `"1, 2, 3"`.

* `[1, 2, 3].include?(2)` returns `true` because the array contains the number `2`.

# How do we find all these methods?

The quickest way to find a specific method for an object is to search for “ruby array sort.” That will point you to the Ruby documentation. Another way is to read through all the methods for the class on the respective Ruby documentation page. We can also read through the method names returned by `[1, 2, 3].methods.sort`.


Learn how to look up lots of useful methods that we can use in our everyday Ruby code.

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

Mini project 1

Spotlight on Things Unremarked

Advanced Topics

Your Toolkit!

Appendix: Mailbox Project Prerequisite

Conclusion

Lots of Other Methods

Names of methods reflect their behavior