It is not required to install Ruby on your own machine before the coding challenge. The easiest way to start using Ruby is to use Cloud9; it is free.
We've recorded a video demo of how to use Cloud9. Here are the key steps:
- Go to c9.io and sign up.
- After you've signed up and confirmed your email, delete the default demo-project.
- Next, create a new project. Where it says "Source URL" paste in https://github.com/appacademy/prep-work.git.
- C9.io will provide a text editor for you to edit Ruby code in the browser. You can write Ruby code in the text editor. At the bottom is a console, you can run your code in the console.
You should be able to do all the prepwork using c9.io.
You do not have to install Ruby on your own machine to do the prep-work. When starting out, you want to spend as much time coding and as little time as possible on banal setup tasks. Therefore, we highly recommend you use c9.io.
Setting up Ruby on your machine can be a frustrating process. Setting up Ruby is not the same as programming; even great Rubyists can be frustrated by the hoops they have to jump through to setup their machine. Don't be discouraged if it's difficult!
To install Ruby on Windows, we recommend RubyInstaller. To install on Mac OSX, look at Tokaido.
You also need a proper code editor; Microsoft's notepad or Mac's TextEdit won't cut it. We recommend you use Atom.
A lot of Ruby development is done at the command line. Mac users can use Terminal.app.
Windows users can run cmd, which is the Windows command line. Run it
by pressing Windows Key-R (launches "run program") and typing cmd
into the box.