If you’re comfortable programming in Ruby and develop (or want to develop) apps for iOS, you should give RubyMotion a try. Its creators came up with a nice way to sum it up: it’s “terminal-based workflow” that makes it easy for you to program iPhone and iPad apps in Ruby and build them with Rake. I’ve taken a couple of their starter apps for a spin, and the feeling I got was not unlike that first time I took Ruby on Rails for a spin.
I’m going to write a whole bunch of articles based on my experiences with RubyMotion here in Global Nerdy. I’m still doing my initial noodling, but I’ll write something up soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d post these screen captures from RubyMotion’s installer.
Many developer tools are content to go with a sparse installer or command-line recipe, but RubyMotion goes the extra mile and provides a beautiful installer. They didn’t have to do it; their target market is comfortable with installing and configuring development tools, but I appreciate the attention to detail and the effort.
Nicely done, RubyMotion! I’m looking forward to playing with you over the next few weeks.
