Programming as Conversation 2: Using Learn In-Browser IDE

Learning Goals

• Provide the command to run a file through Ruby
• Compare running a Ruby file versus using IRB
• Run a Ruby program in the Learn In-Browser IDE

Introduction

Thus far, we have been using Ruby's IRB inside of the Learn In-Browser IDE. As a quick reminder, IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment: a set of tools that lets you read, write, and run code. In "Programming as Conversation 1" we were clicking in the small, black window at the bottom (the Terminal) and were running IRB there. Here we'll start using the rest of the IDE.

When we were writing simple expressions, we could have a direct conversation with Ruby in IRB. We didn't really need to save our work as a quick copy and paste was sufficient to get our world loaded back up.

However, we're going to start writing longer programs now and we're going to be quite cross if we find our program's code missing. In this lesson, we'll demonstrate how to create and run a Ruby file.

Before We Start

If you have not used the Learn In-Browser IDE while following along, we'll quickly review it now. Before you can use the IDE you must connect a GitHub account to Learn. To connect a GitHub account, open the drop down menu in the upper right corner of this page, then click the Manage Account link.

While in the Account Management page, click Connected Apps. From this page, you will be able to navigate to GitHub and create an account, then connect that account to Learn. The In-Browser IDE uses GitHub (in addition, all your coding work through this course will get saved in GitHub as well).

Okay, with a GitHub account connected, refresh this lesson page in your browser. In the upper-right section of the screen, you should see a Sandbox* button:

Clicking this button will open the In-Browser IDE. If the Sandbox button is not currently present, please use the Ask a Question button to connect with a technical coach that can give you further guidance on the next steps.

A lot of upcoming content will assume that you are able to access this IDE, so now is a good time to make sure you are set up.

Note: If the Ask a Question button is grayed out, try refreshing the page. If this does not resolve the issue, navigate to https://learn.co/ to return to this course's main page. The Ask a Question should no longer be grayed out.

If everything is working as it should, clicking the Sandbox button will open the In-Browser IDE.

For additional information on the IDE, check out this article.

Provide the Command to Run a File Through Ruby

To tell Ruby to "read and run" a file, we use the command:

ruby name_of_file

By convention, as Ruby developers, we like to put .rb at the end of a file name. It's not required, but it's helpful to remind us that the contents are meant for RuBy. Eventually, you might learn dozens of programming languages, and it's helpful to have a little visual clue about which language knows how to read the conversation recorded inside.

For example:

ruby demo.rb

would be a typical command.

Compare Running a Ruby File Versus Using IRB

When you run ruby name_of_file.rb, it's the same as if you typed in all the contents of name_of_file into IRB. Any puts calls will print things out, any expression will be evaluated, and any statements will be processed according to the rules of Ruby. Also, if anything goes wrong, Ruby will print an error message which will tell you which line in the file had the problem.

Remember, Ruby is not your enemy. It's your conversational partner and if you say something it doesn't understand, it does its best to tell you how to help it along.

Run a Ruby Program in the Learn In-Browser IDE

To practice running a file, you'll first need a file to run. Let's create this file and run it in Learn's In-Browser IDE.

Open the IDE and click on the Terminal. In the Terminal, type:

touch example_file.rb

A file named example_file.rb will appear in the file navigation

Click example_file.rb to open the file in the editor

Any Ruby code we write in here will get executed when the file is run. Let's give this file something to do. In the file editor, write the following:

puts "Hello World"

When done, click on the Terminal and run the file:

ruby example_file.rb

The Terminal should print out Hello World. You've written a program!

Note: As an alternative to the previous instructions, you can also use the In-Browser IDE's Create New button the create the file needed. Here's an animation showing this method:

ALTERNATIVE: Local Development

We've made this module runnable in the In-Browser IDE so that you don't have to learn a lot about the CLI environment or install a lot of engineering tools to get going. In time, we'll teach you to install these, of course. And once in a Flatiron School cohort, you'll be using them all the time and will leave the In-Browser IDE behind.

Right now, however, we want to make sure you're focused on "learning Ruby" not "learning to set up a development environment."

If you're already familiar with the Terminal and command-line interface environment and would prefer to follow the lessons on your local computer, feel free to do so instead of using the Learn In-Browser IDE, just keep in mind that these materials may assume you're using the In-Browser IDE.

Conclusion

OK, OK, no more delays! You have your tools: ruby, the in-browser IDE. You know what we're going to study: statements. No more prologue, no more introductions. We're going to start off by working with statements.