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Basic Ruby concepts and features

• "Everything's an object"
• Local variables and assignment
• Top-level method definitions
• Arithmetic and logical operators
• Global variables
• The default object (self)

Object orientation in Ruby

• Messages and methods
• Ruby's class model
• Inheritance
• The object method lookup-path

Classes and modules

• Class methods
• Constants
• Module "mix-ins" in classes
• Modules as namespaces
• Instance method definition syntax
• Reopening class and module definitions
• Overriding methods

Instances and attributes

• Instance variables
• Attribute setter and getter techniques
• Ruby and the "Equal Access Principle"

Strings, symbols, and regular expressions

• Basic string manipulation and indexing
• Symbols and the symbol table
• Regular expression syntax
• Pattern-matching with scan, sub, and match

Collection objects and iterators

• Array, Hash, and Range classes
• Code blocks and iteration
• Creating iterators with the Enumerable module
• Collection filtering, selecting, and transforming
• Enumerators and external iteration

Object dynamism

• Adding singleton methods to objects
• Modular extension of per-object behavior
• Singleton classes
• Extending existing classes

Threads

• Starting, running, stopping threads
• Threads and variable scope
• Thread-safety considerations

Lambdas and function objects

• Creating first-class functions
• Lambda argument semantics
• Variable scope and closures
• Block, Proc, lambda interaction

Metaprogramming

• The eval family of methods
• Programmatic method creation
• Runtime reflection on objects
• Traversing ObjectSpace
• method_missing and other hooks and callbacks

Exception handling

• The Exception class hierarchy
• Raising exceptions
• Rescue and ensure clauses
• Writing your own exception classes

File and I/O operations

• Keyboard input and screen output
• Basic file reading and writing
• File handles as iterators
• Low-level I/O techniques

Date, time, and numeric types

• Date, Time, and DateTime classes
• Date calculation and parsing
• Integers and floating-point numbers

The standard library

• StringIO hybrid objects
• Struct and OpenStruct
• Math extensions
• FileUtils and Pathname
• Socket and network programming facilities
• Administrative and system libraries

Testing in Ruby

• Unit testing principles
• The MiniTest and TestUnit libraries

Ruby tools

• Interactive Ruby (irb)
• Embedded Ruby (erb)
• The RubyGems packaging system
• Rake task management utility

Ruby Power and Light presents:

Introduction to Ruby

September 14-17, 2009, Edison, NJ

Instructors: David A. Black and Erik Kastner

In this fast-paced introductory course, participants will start with basic Ruby syntax and techniques, and progress to an understanding of the Ruby object model, built-in classes, string and text handling, sockets and network programming, code testing, metaprogramming, and many more subtopics.

"Introduction to Ruby" is the right course for you if you're a programmer just starting out with Ruby, or if you've done some work with Ruby and now want to learn the language systematically and deeply.

The course emphasizes hands-on learning and exercises, built around topic explanations and live code demos by the instructors. Each student will receive a copy of David Black's new book, The Well-Grounded Rubyist, as well as course-specific materials (slides and exercises) in handout form.

More details and registration instructions below! See also the course outline, on the left.

Not sure if our course is for you?

If you're not sure, see the 5 Reasons why you should learn Ruby with RPL, and David's blog post on why this course isn't just for Ruby beginners!

Location and Logistics

The course will be held at the state-of-the-art training center of Exceed Education, in the Raritan Center, Edison, New Jersey. The Raritan Center is also the home of the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, and there are many hotels and restaurants in the Raritan center as well as in nearby local areas. (There's also a cafeteria in the same building as the training center.) The nearest airport is Newark (Liberty) International Airport (EWR).

Classes will run from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The course will be held in a Windows XP lab. You may bring your own laptop (doesn't have to be Windows) if you wish, as long as Ruby is installed on it (version 1.8.6 or higher).

Registration and Cost

Registration is open now through September 10. Costs are as follows:

• Early-bird: $1600 (through August 30)
• Regular registration: $1750 (through September 10)

Sign up!

Registration for the course is through the course host, Exceed Education, Inc. To register, please call Exceed toll-free at 866-863-9233 and tell them you would like to register for Introduction to Ruby by Ruby Power and Light. Exceed Education also has its own page for the course.

Questions?

Please contact us with any questions.