Programming Tools
Whichever language you prefer, having proper tools support is important for your productivity.
Statically typed languages like Java or C# enjoy IDEs with lots of advanced features for helping the programmer type in the code. In a dynamically typed language like Ruby, creating such IDE features is a lot harder. However, advanced Ruby IDEs are finally becoming mainstream. We will have a look some of the most popular IDEs.
When you cannot get your IDE to automatically create working code for you, test-driven development becomes a more natural choice for the development process. Thus, the Ruby world has been very keen on test-driven development, and the dynamic nature of Ruby allows for some interesting approaches to testing. We will be guided through a couple of frameworks that ease the testing process.