Revision as of 00:51, 13 August 2012

Ruby is an interpreted language, dynamically, reflective, semi-Functional and Object Orientated scripting language written in C. Ruby is said to be semi-Functional because it supports higher-order functions (aka lambdas) and closures (aka blocks). Ruby was created by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto and was first released in 1995.

Matz's goal was to combine powerful features from various other programming languages, and create a programming language maximized for developer happiness; as opposed to computational efficiency. Ruby's Object Model mirrors that of Smalltalk, the syntax shares some similarities with Bash, Perl, Python, and the scoping rules for closures was taken from LISP.

Basics

Development Environment

• Installation
• Gems

Interactive Ruby Console

IRB, or the Interactive Ruby Console, comes bundled with Ruby and allows you to interactively run code right from your command line. IRB can be invoked from your terminal simply by typing 'irb'.

» irb --help
Usage:  irb.rb [options] [programfile] [arguments]
  -f		    Suppress read of ~/.irbrc 
  -m		    Bc mode (load mathn, fraction or matrix are available)
  -d                Set $DEBUG to true (same as `ruby -d')
  -r load-module    Same as `ruby -r'
  -I path           Specify $LOAD_PATH directory
  --inspect	    Use `inspect' for output (default except for bc mode)
  --noinspect	    Don't use inspect for output
  --readline	    Use Readline extension module
  --noreadline	    Don't use Readline extension module
  --prompt prompt-mode
  --prompt-mode prompt-mode
		    Switch prompt mode. Pre-defined prompt modes are
		    `default', `simple', `xmp' and `inf-ruby'
  --inf-ruby-mode   Use prompt appropriate for inf-ruby-mode on emacs. 
		    Suppresses --readline. 
  --simple-prompt   Simple prompt mode
  --noprompt	    No prompt mode
  --tracer	    Display trace for each execution of commands.
  --back-trace-limit n
		    Display backtrace top n and tail n. The default
		    value is 16. 
  --irb_debug n	    Set internal debug level to n (not for popular use)
  -v, --version	    Print the version of irb

» irb
irb(main):001:0> puts 'woot'
woot
=> nil
irb(main):002:0> 

Running irb --simple-prompt will provide you with a more basic looking Ruby shell.

» irb --simple-prompt
>> puts 'woot'
woot
=> nil

>> 

You can use either 'exit', 'quit', or 'irb_exit' to close IRB and return to your terminal.

<pre>
» irb --simple-prompt
>> exit
» # back in our terminal :D

RVM

RVM is a handy utility that can be used to manage multiple Ruby version installations on the same operating system. It allows you to run multiple interpreters and gemsets with a simple way to switch between them.

https://rvm.io/

Pry

Pry is a Ruby gem that provides an alterative to IRB (Interactive Ruby Console) with additional functionality to dig down into Ruby code while you are coding. You can view the source-code of any Ruby method from within the interpreter. It also provides some cool extras like Gist integration, syntax highlighting, and command shell integration.

Pry Homepage: https://github.com/pry/pry/

Your first program

Code

#!/usr/bin/ruby
puts "Hello world\n"

Explanation

Variables and Data Types

Local

A local variable is a variable that can only be used within the block it was initialized in. It can be created by assigning an Object to a lowercase keyword.

 
foo = 'bar'
 

Global

Global variables can be accessed from anywhere within the entire program. They can be created by prefixing your variable the the $ symbol. Editting the assignment of a global variable will change the status of that variable globally and is generally avoided when writing Ruby scripts; use class-variables or constants instead.

 
$woot = 1337
 

Instance Variables

Instance variables begin with the '@' symbol. Accessing an uninitialzed instance will return the nil value.

>> @instance
=> nil
>> @instance = 'ohdae'
=> "ohdae"

Instance variables can also be defined at the Class/Module level:

>> module Settings
>>   @config = {:verbose => false}
>>   def self.config; @config; end
>> end
=> Settings
>> Settings.config
=> {:verbose => false}

Class Variables

Class variables are shared by all methods within a Class or Module. These are created by using two '@' symbols at the beginning of your variable. Trying to initialize a class variable outside of a class will throw an error.

>> @@classvar
NameError: uninitialized class variable @@classvar in Object
	from (irb):5
	from :0
>> class Blackhat
>>   @@classvar = 'ohhai'
>>   def self.classvar; @@classvar; end
>> end
=> Blackhat
>> Blackhat.classvar
=> "ohhai"

Predefined Variables

Certain variables are pre-defined into Ruby. The values of these variables cannot be changed.

• self: Represents the current scope. Similar to this from Java.
• nil: The null object.
• true: Boolean true.
• false: Boolean false.

Boolean Values

Ruby defines two boolean values, true and false:

>> 1 == 1
=> true
>> 1 == 2
=> false

Integers

Ruby also provides Integer literals:

>> 10
=> 10
>> 010 # octal
=> 14
>> 0x0a # hexadecimal
=> 10
>> 1_000_000 # short-hand for big values
=> 1000000

In Ruby, Integers are also Objects, which you can call methods on:

>> 0x42.chr
=> "A"

Floats

Ruby also provides floating point decimal literals:

>> 1.5
=> 1.5
>> 1.5e10
=> 15000000000.0

Floats are also Objects:

>> 1.5.round
=> 2

Strings

Ruby supports String literals as well.

>> "hello world"
=> "hello world"
>> 'hello\nworld'
=> "hello\\nworld"
>> %{one
two
three}
=> "one\ntwo\nthree"

Strings are also Objects in Ruby:

>> "hello".reverse
=> "olleh"

Symbols

Symbols are like Strings, but used for keywords or identifiers:

>> :verbose
=> :verbose
>> :verbose == 'verbose'
=> false
>> :verbose == :verbose
=> true

Arrays

An array is a group of objects, very similar to lists in Python. The items or objects inside an array are indexed on a non-negative zero-index. The objects inside of a Ruby array can be any mixture of variables. Creating an array can be done in a few different ways. You do not need to specifically declare your variable as an array during initialization, for example if you give Ruby a list of comma separated values inside brackets, Ruby will recgonize this as an array and use it as such from that point forward.

>> my_array = []
=> []
>> array_three = ["item", 5, foo, "Item2", "Strings can go here too"]
=> ["item", 5, "bar", "Item2", "Strings can go here too"]
>> array_three[0]
=> "item"
>> array_three[1]
=> 5
>> array_with_default = Array.new(1)
=> []
>> array_with_default[0]
=> 1
>> filled_array = Array.new(5) { 0 }
=> [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]

You will notice the item 'foo' is printed as "bar" because we defined this earlier in this page.

Hashes or Associative Arrays

Ruby hashes are similar to arrays, except they require two objects for every item in the group. One of these objects is the 'key' and the other is the 'value'. This is very useful when you want to index items by some other than the array's zero-index. A hash also uses braces, instead of the brackets an array uses.

new_hash = {
  'username'  => 'admin',
  'password'  => 'letmein123',
  'hostname'  => 'blackhatacademy.org',
  'service'   => 'ssh'
  'portnum'   =>  22
}

You can use the key inside of brackets to return the value for that object.

new_hash['username']
>> 'admin'

Iterate through a hash, returning each key matched with it's value

>> new_hash.each do |k, v|
?>   puts "key: #{k}"
>>   puts "value: #{v}"
>> end
key: portnum
value: 22
key: hostname
value: blackhatacademy.org
key: service
value: ssh
key: username
value: admin
key: password
value: letmein123
=> {"portnum"=>22, "hostname"=>"blackhatacademy.org", "service"=>"ssh", "username"=>"admin", "password"=>"letmein123"}

Casting

Ruby is a dynamically typed language, so it doesn't have Static Types or Type-Casting. Instead it has methods which convert an Object into another format:

• to_i: Converts an Object to an Integer.
• to_f: Converts an Object to a Float.
• to_s: Converts an Object to a String.
• to_sym: Converts an Object to a Symbol.
• to_a: Converts an Object to an Array.
• to_set: Converts an Object to a Set.

Boolean Logic

Operators

Ruby supports all the usual ANSI C boolean operators:

>> true && false # AND
=> false
>> true || false # OR
=> true
>> true ^ true # XOR
=> false
>> !true # NOT
=> false

Statements

Helper natives

Bitwise Manipulations

Ruby supports all of the common ANSI C bit-wise operators:

>> 0xff & 0x02 # AND
=> 2
>> 0x02 | 0x1 # OR
=> 3
>> 0x02 ^ 0x3 # XOR
=> 1
>> ~0x0 # inverse
=> -1
>> 0x1 << 2 # left-shift
=> 4
>> 0x3 >> 1 #right-shift
=> 1

Loops

For

Ruby supports for loops like any other language:

>> for i in (1..10)
>>   puts i
>> end
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Generally, you never need to use for loops, due to Ruby's excellent support for Enumerators.

While

Ruby also supports traditional while loops:

>> queue = [1,2,3,4]
=> [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> while (i = queue.shift)
>>   puts i
>> end
1
2
3
4

Until

The until loop is a short-hand for saying while !expression:

>> queue = [1,2,3,4]
=> [1, 2, 3, 4]
>> until queue.empty?
>>   puts queue.shift
>> end
1
2
3
4

Enumerators

Ruby has superb support for Enumerators, or Iterators.

>> (1..5).each { |i| puts i }
1
2
3
4
5
=> 1..5
>> (1..5).first(2)
=> [1, 2]
>> (1..5).any? { |i| i % 2 == 0 }
=> true
>> (1..5).all? { |i| i < 10 }
=> true
>> (1..5).select { |i| i % 2 == 0 }
=> [2, 4]
>> (1..5).map { |i| i * 2 }
=> [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]

These methods are defined by including the Enumerable module, and defining an each which enumerates over the elements of the Object:

>> class PasswordBruter
>>   include Enumerable
>>   def initialize(start_word)
>>     @start_word = start_word
>>     @end_word   = ('x' * start_word.length)
>>   end
>>   def each
>>     (@start_word..@end_word).each { |word| yield word }
>>   end
>> end
=> PasswordBruter
>> PasswordBruter.new("hello").each { |word| puts word }
hello
hellp
hellq
hellr
hells
hellt
hellu
hellv
hellw
hellx
....

User Input

Command-line Options

STDIN / Standard Input

User-defined

Methods

A simple hello world method:

 
 
def hello_world
  puts "Hello, World!"
end
 

When calling a method that takes an argument, the parenthesis around the argument are optional.

 
def hello(name)
  puts "Hello, #{name}!"
end
 
>> hello('ohdae')
Hello, ohdae!
=> nil
>> hello 'ohdae'
Hello, ohdae!
=> nil
 

Methods with default arguments:

 
def hello(name='ohdae')
  puts "Hello, #{name}!"
end
 
>> hello
Hello, ohdae!
=> nil
>> hello 'world'
Hello, world!
=> nil
 

Prematurely returning from a method:

 
def add(arg1, arg2) 
    return nil unless arg1
    return nil unless arg2
 
    arg1.to_i + arg2.to_i
end

Note, that we don't have to specify a return on the last line of our add method. This is because in Ruby, every statement has a return value, and the last-statement of a method is it's default return value.

Classes

Classes have names which must start in capital letters.

 
class MyClass
 
end
 

In Ruby, the constructor method is called initialize:

 
class MyClass
    def initialize
        puts "Hello\n"
    end
end
 

Helpful Libraries

Sockets

simple TCP server

 
require 'socket'
 
server = TCPServer.new 4444          # Binds to TCP port 4444
 
loop do                              # Starts a loop to wait for connection
  client = server.accept             # Receive and accept client connection
  client.puts "Hack The Planet!"     # Send data to client
  client.close
end
 

simple TCP client

 
require 'socket'
 
client = TCPSocket.new 'localhost', 4444      # Open TCP connection to localhost on port 4444
 
while line = client.gets                      # Read input from the socket connection
  puts line                              # Prints the input we captured with s.gets
end                                      
 
client.close                                  # Closes the socket
 

Extensions

Programming extensions

Helpful extensions

Gems