I am trying to learn Ruby.

Trying to get out of the development rut I’ve been in.

I love .NET. I love C#. I can build powerful apps very quickly in .NET. However, taking these apps and getting my team to maintain them consistently, and building a web-ready infrastructure around them to support both high-traffic volume and Agile development has been and continues to be costly. Or maybe I just need a change of pace.

So, I go to try to learn Ruby on Windows. I built a Wiki, a small blog app, etc. But it just doesn’t “feel right.” The warm comfort of Visual Studio 2005 is right there, a click away. Getting over the hump is hard when an old friend is right there. “Ed, don’t bother figuring out how to get postgreSql running on XP - just use me. I’m easy.”

On the other side, the Mac world seems to have adopted Ruby as development framework of choice. It’s clean. There is no Visual Studio ( which I am still convinced is the best IDE ever built ). You are forced to learn the low-level details that for so long have been obfuscated from pure .NET/SQL developers.

So I’ve been checking out Softies on Rails. Great blog.

Particularly, the Mac forum there seems to speak right to me. At this point I think I might just pick up a 13″ MacBook to learn Rails, use as a small “internet machine” around the house, and start what might be a sad but inevitable move away from the womb of Microsoft development.

Wish me luck.