The Howdy Glossary

Ruby is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is easy to read and write, often compared to natural language. With its creator Yukihiro Matsumoto wanting to balance functional programming with imperative programming, it finds applications in web development (through frameworks such as Ruby on Rails), server-side scripting, and database handling. Ruby's open-source nature encourages the community to actively contribute gems — plug-ins and libraries that extend its functionality.