Top find out what each key in the hash is associated with :

salad['green salad'] => “lettuce and sweet basil”

As with arrays, there are a lot of useful methods in creating them.

salad.empty? (to check if the hash is empty)
salad.size (to check for the number of elements in the hash)
salad.keys (to get all the keys in the hash to create an array)
salad.values (to get the keys in the form of an array but not necessarily in the order they’ve been entered in the hash)

All the above operations are built-in methods that are used for such purposes.

Hashes are simply arrays that link one object to another object (think of it as an association of sorts), say like Spagthetti_sauce which is part of the complete menu, referring to the hash Spaghetti_sauce gives you the ingredients. Same as with arrays, they are created with the “.new” method resulting in an empty hash.

salad = Hash.new

Using curly braces, you get to assign the hash its elements like the example shown below:

salad = {
green salad => ‘lettuce and sweet basil’
coleslaw => ’shredded lettuce, garlic and onions, carrots’
garden fresh => ‘cherry tomatoes, lettuce, iceberg, iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, olive oil, lemons
}

The caret “^” and the “&” operators are used for matching the beginning of a string, and also for the end of a string shown below:

matching =/[a-e]$/

The script would look for similar letters between “a” and “e” respectively including the end of the string. To search for a letter inside a string:

[A-Z] all uppercase letters
[a-z] all lowercase letters
[0-9] all digits(numbers)

To restrict the range, say to look for only the letters between “a” and “e”, you write it as [a-e] combined with the caret operator shown below:

[^A-Z] all other characters except uppercase letters
[^a-z] all other characters except lowercase letters
[^A-Za-z] no letters, whether upper or lower case

Ruby expressions would be shocking for the uninitiated or those who are shifting form other programming languages. If you have experience with Perl or Python, then you’re in luck for they won’t send you packing up and running in fear. The term “regular expression” is used to have a program check if it looks like something else in terms of similar characters or spacing, length or a myriad of other things that you may think of. The table form Ruby.org summarizes all the Ruby expressions and elements. Regular expressions are used for matching certain patterns such that if you’d want to check for a digit you use the \d expression or to match a space character, you use the \s expression to match a space character.

Because of its success, popularity and functionality, Ruby on Rails performs with an extensive variety of web servers and databases. Recommended for web servers would have to be Apache, lighttpd or nginx in place of Mongrel or it can be by means of FastCGI. Meanwhile, for database, the following have been suggested to be utilized: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and a lot more of servers that Ruby on Rails support and work well with. There is no limitation or strictly recommended on which operating system to use, but the best to make use of is a ‘nix-based one for deployment.

When it comes to infrastructure, Ruby on Rails is all over it. From start-ups to non-profits for venture projects of businesses, Rails can handle it. It is the best tool for almost whichever kind of web application (software collaboration, community, e-commerce, content management, statistics, management, etc). Shopify, Yellow Pages , Backpack, Github and Twitter are only some of web sites that uses Ruby on Rails. These web sites have trusted Ruby on Rails do manage their web applications that is made easy to use for people browsing, customers and people in need of the information provided by the web site.

Rip has quietly been making its way out into the world of Ruby, but the power it holds within is seen as the next generation packaging for Ruby Apps. The system that has come out is on the “development alpha” stage which can be compared to the release candidates by which developers can begin to experiment and build applications with. They however stressed that the version out of the box is still to be finalized and should not be used for production till they get it fully tested and debugged for pending release. Read more

From Phusion, who is responsible for the rails deployment system, Passenger, announced the release of DebGem a powerful tool for RubyGem to APT conversion. With many system administrators preferring to use the APT package management for everything they wish to do on their systems, DebGem allows RubyGems to be packaged differently for deployment on Ubuntu and Debian. The addition of support for the two repositories, allows more flexibility and control, previously quite difficult solely with RubyGems. Read more

Intelligent productivity enhancing development tools are some of the most powerful tools available to the many Ruby and Rails developers all over the world and with the release by JetBrains of RubyMine 1.0, it just got a whole lot better. Hailed as one of the best IDE’s yet to come out for use by developers, it has received quite a lot of attention since it was released partially last November. The development tool that is RubyMine performs a very comprehensive analysis of the whole project code and offers a sort of suggestions list as to the best-in-class code that till now hasn’t been seen in the world of Ruby. Read more