Ruby is an interpreted language, capable of saving programmers considerable time during program development since no compilation and linking are necessary. It is ideal for writing text-processing applications, server-side scripts, application prototypes, mathematics, and for many everyday programming tasks.* Reviews Ruby's clever syntax and demonstrates why that makes it a perfect choice for beginning programmers, and also shows how its multipurpose capabilities make it a sound choice for experienced developers* Explores Ruby's uses for prototyping, text processing, and other tasks