Introduction to Programming with Ruby

If you have programmed before, you may already have a favorite programmer's editor. However, if you do not, or were thinking about trying other editors anyway, spend some time trying and considering these options common in the Ruby community ...

Note that while a plain text editor such as Notepad may work for small programs, it is worth your time to invest in learning to operate an advanced programmer's editor or development environment.

• SciTE - General purpose code editor (Windows and OS X only).
• Redcar - Editor itself written in Ruby. Still under development, but has the potential to be very nice. Clean, simple interface.
• Notepad++ - Advanced source code editor with a lightweight interface similar to Notepad (Windows only).
• Eclipse - Integrated development environment.
  • Aptana provides a free Eclipse plugin for Ruby and Rails development.
  • Eclipse Dynamic Languages Toolkit appears to be another useful toolkit for Ruby development in Eclipse.
• NetBeans - Integrated development environment.
  • Ruby support available.
• Vim - Steep learning curve, but very powerful general purpose editor.
• Emacs - Steep learning curve, but very powerful general purpose editor.

These editors are not free (as in cost), but are popular in the Ruby world:

• Textmate (OS X only)
• RubyMine
• Sublime Text