Question

I am currently trying to set up a development environment for learning Ruby. The environment will primarily be for getting to grips with the language, but I will most probably move on to development with Rails after long. With web development a target, I would like to hear about preferred web servers and databases.

I plan on setting up the environment on a virtual machine, so I’m not worried about trashing the thing. Therefore, I am open to using a Linux distribution, OSX or Windows as the operating system.

I’m moving from C#, so I’d like to be forced into the Ruby way of thinking to a certain extent. Obviously, that’s easier said than done.

• What OS do most Ruby developers use?
• What is the easiest IDE to get to
  grips with coming from a background
  of using Visual Studio?
• Which
  database is used most within the Ruby
  community?
• Which database is most
  likely to be supported by most web
  hosts?
• Which web server is the
  easiest to configure? To get up and
  running in the shortest amount of
  time.

Hopefully I have provided all the information needed and hopefully this will aid others in setting up their own environments.

Thanks

Edit:

Thanks guys. Some really good
suggestions so far, all of which I’ll
take on board. I’m currently wading
through the copious articles surrounding
initial RoR setup on Linux, as I like to
understand how things work and are
tied together. Also, because it’s all
free…

I’m currently putting together a
virtual machine (so I can break stuff)
using:

• Ubuntu
• SQLite
• No webserver, I plan on using whatever development server comes with Rails out of the box, initially
• Redcar Editor

Edit 2

I have setup a couple of environments
now.

I have the ubuntu setup running in a
Virtual Machine on Windows and decided
to try decking my Mac out for ruby
development too.

Overall, I’d have to say setup for the
mac was a lot less painful than the
linux setup. On the mac I’m running
with:

• SQLite that comes with OSX out of the box(!)
• TextMate (trial version, but loving it)
• Mongrel web server

I’ve progressed from learning the ways
of Ruby to writing some simple
websites with Rails and am finding
development with Rails really simple
to use. I have also set up a GIT
repository on my working directory and
am currently trying out Heroku.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

If anyone would like any more information about setting up on either environment, I’d be happy to provide more detail.

Answer 1

What OS do most Ruby developers use?

Mac OS for most, but any Linux distro will do (Ubuntu/Fedora etc).

What is the easiest IDE to get to grips with coming from a background of using Visual Studio?

Textmate is quite popular if you’re on Mac. Netbeans and Aptana are there if you need something similar to enterprise world. Emacs/Vim is ok too.

Which database is used most within the Ruby community?

So far most Ruby / RoR guys I know use open source databases. sqlite for local development while Mysql or Postgresql for production. My advice, sqlite is easy to learn, while give a try with Mysql or Postgresql, you might not know when your clients going to ask you to develop on them. Mysql is very popular. Postgresql I think has lot more features (personal preference).

Which database is most likely to be supported by most web hosts?

Mysql is most supported by shared hosting hence the M in LAMP (Linux/Apache/Mysql/Php). But Postgresql is getting more support too. Some hosting companies even support both but Rails developers usually prefer to use VPS (slicehost.com/linode.com) and manage all these themselves. Checkout heroku.com too for deploying your Rails app without needing much knowledge in sys admin stuffs.

Which web server is the easiest to configure? To get up and running in the shortest amount of time.

Developing with Rails you’ll get webrick as a development server where you can test ur app locally. But for production I prefer modrails.com where you can choose between apache/nginx. I prefer to use apache since that is what I’m used to.