Ruby Comes to the .NET Platform: Find Out Why .NET Programmers May Want to Learn and Use Ruby, and Discover the Core Syntax of the Language

Microsoft's IronRuby project brings a powerful and fun dynamic language to the Windows platform. The Ruby programming language is a modern, object-oriented scripting language, with a syntax inspired by languages such as Perl and Smalltalk. It was conceived by Yukihiro Matsumoto (aka "Matz"). In his words, Matz wanted a language that was "More powerful than Perl and more object-oriented than Python". The language is designed to feel natural; something Matz calls the "Principle of least surprise." Version 1.0 of the language was released in 1996. For several years, Ruby existed as a little-known scripting language that excelled in the tasks for which it was originally designed: manipulating data and environment with the least amount of effort.