As Rubyists, we’re familiar with the IRB for quickly experimenting with language features and new ideas. I was interested to see how this would translate when demonstrating Ruby in an informal teaching environment.
I invited Ashley Kyd and Owen Stickley for some Ruby 101. Ashley is interested in learning rails and Owen is interested in automating system tasks.
We each had our own laptops and a projector. Plugged a laptop in to the projector and asked everyone to start the IRB.
As the teacher, I could demonstrate Ruby’s features while Ashley and Owen followed and continued to experiment themselves. I think this style of interactive learning is more engaging by providing immediate feedback and lowering the barrier to entry.
Even after the initial learning phase, I’m sure that Ashley and Owen will continue to use and appreciate the IRB.
Tate Johnson is a 23 year old Ruby on Rails developer and university student living in Brisbane, Australia. He enjoys riding bicycles, motorbikes, taking photos and travelling.