Ruby: The Next Generation
summary
Claim: Ruby finds a classroom sweet spot — simple syntax and iterative exercises turn a one‑semester elective into a feeder for upper courses. Tools actually used: CodeRunner as the lightweight editor, the gosu gem for games, occasional Sinatra demos. Students build playable video games, use screencast lectures and a debugging workflow of indentation, commenting and puts. Outcomes: enrollment rises from two to four intro classes, iTunes U materials attract about 4,000 people signed up.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:13Introduction to Programming
- 2:29Microworlds Logo
- 4:18We had trouble filing our Intro to Programming
- 7:47Tools
- 8:57Exercises
- 13:4925 Students
- 15:59Teach just one way to do each thing.
- 18:25Debugging a missing 'end' statement
- 19:25Debugging with Comments
- 20:27Screencasts
- 21:21Video Games!
- 22:33Empty Gosu Application
- 23:23Classes and Objects
- 26:04Outcomes
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