Ruby Programming

Overview Learning objectives What you’ll learn Key facts Module listing FAQs What our customers say Get in touch

Course overview

Ruby is a versatile programming language used to build applications, automate tasks and develop web-based solutions. During the course, you’ll complete practical coding tasks that build your knowledge from core syntax to object-oriented application structure. You’ll focus on Ruby syntax, object-oriented structure and practical code organisation, helping you write applications that are clearer to maintain, easier to adapt and better suited to real workplace development tasks.

Ruby skills for software developers

This three-day Ruby Programming live virtual classroom course, you’ll learn how to build, maintain or improve Ruby code in professional environments. You’ll develop capability in Ruby syntax, application structure, object-oriented design and code troubleshooting, with practical exercises that connect language features to real development tasks. This course is ideal if you are a programmer moving into Ruby work, or a developer supporting existing Ruby projects that needs to read, update and troubleshoot Ruby code with greater accuracy in day-to-day development work.

Learning objectives

Write clear Ruby code
Structure Ruby applications effectively
Apply object-oriented design
Improve code maintainability
Troubleshoot common coding issues
Handle files in Ruby
Use patterns to validate text
Support existing Ruby projects

What you’ll learn

You’ll learn how to use Ruby to produce clearer, more reliable code for real development tasks. The course focuses on the parts of the language that have the greatest day-to-day impact: controlling how programs behave, organising code into reusable structures, working with stored information, checking text patterns and resolving faults before they slow delivery.

Control flow

Ruby programs need to respond to different inputs, conditions and user actions without becoming difficult to follow. You’ll learn how to guide program behaviour using decisions and repetition, ensuring that your code follows the right path and remains easier to test. This helps you build application logic that is more predictable, simpler to adjust and less likely to create defects when requirements change.

Data handling

Applications rely on information being stored, updated and used consistently. You’ll learn how Ruby handles data so you can organise information in a way that supports clearer code and more reliable application behaviour. This helps you reduce unnecessary complexity, avoid manual fixes and make changes with greater accuracy when values, features or project requirements need to evolve.

Text validation

Many Ruby tasks involve checking, searching or reshaping text, from validating user input to working with structured values. You’ll learn how Ruby supports pattern-based text handling, helping you automate checks that would otherwise be repetitive or easy to miss. This helps reduce avoidable errors, improve data consistency and make text-based processing more dependable within real development tasks.

Object-oriented structure

Ruby is built around objects and understanding object-oriented structure is essential for writing code that lasts beyond the first version. You’ll learn how to organise behaviour and information into clearer structures, helping you reduce repeated logic and make updates with more confidence. This supports code that is easier for other developers to understand, maintain and extend as projects grow.

Debugging Ruby code

Ruby developers need to know how to respond when code fails, behaves unexpectedly or produces the wrong result. You’ll learn how to investigate errors methodically, interpret Ruby feedback and make targeted corrections instead of relying on guesswork. This helps you resolve issues faster, improve application reliability and reduce the time spent tracing problems across existing Ruby code.

What’s included

Instructor-led training over three-days
Live virtual classroom environment
Hands-on exercises and live labs
All relevant course materials

Key facts

Certification

This is a skills and knowledge-based course without formal accreditation.

Who it's for

Ideal for developers who want to build, customise or maintain Ruby applications, as well as those seeking a better understanding of existing Ruby codebases.

Prerequisites

You should have prior programming experience and be familiar with concepts such as variables, arrays, functions, objects and classes.

Exam information

No exam is included.

Optional extras

There are no optional extras with this course.

Pre-course

No formal pre-course work is required.

Full module listing

Click on each day below to see the breakdown of the modules that you'll cover on the course

Day one

Day two

Day three

Day one

Session 1: INTRODUCTION TO RUBY

What is Ruby
What is it used for
Installing Ruby?
Ruby Basics - objects, regular expressions, arrays, hashes, Object Orientation

Session 2: RUBY LANGUAGE ELEMENTS

Variables and constants
Operators
Assignments
Integer, float and string formats
Single and double quotes
Here documents
Labs

Session 3: CONTROL STRUCTURES

Blocks and if statement
Boolean and range operators
Conditionals - if, unless, case
Loops - while, for in, until
break, next, retry and redo
Labs

Session 4: CLASSES AND OBJECTS

Objects, classes and methods
Constructors and attributes
Instance and class variables
Local and global variables
Class and object methods
Including external files - load and require
Labs

Day two

Session 5: INPUT AND OUTPUT IN RUBY

Opening and closing files
Reading from and writing to files
Labs

Session 6: ARRAYS AND HASHES IN RUBY

Arrays and hashes
Building an array
The %w shortcut
Nesting arrays
Hash keys
Iterators
Labs

Session 7: OBJECT ORIENTATION

Inheritance
Base classes and subclasses
What's inherited
Overriding
Abstract classes
Polymorphism
Multiple Inheritances
Class structure
Visibility
Labs

Session 8: CLASSES AND OBJECT SCOPING

Public, private and protected visibility
Singletons and defs
Inheritance mixins
Destructors and garbage collection
Namespaces and modules
Hooks
Freezing objects
Labs

Day three

Session 9: OBJECT ORIENTATION TECHNIQUES

Clusters of classes
Programming and method standards
Formal Methods
Unified Modelling Language (UML)
Views

Session 10: STRINGS AND REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

Meta Characters
Anchors, literals, character groups and counts
Matching in Ruby
Modifiers i, o, x and m
Pattern matching variables
Labs

Session 11: SPECIAL VARIABLES AND PSEUDO-VARIABLES

ARGV and $0
Special variables
Environment variables
Pseudo-variables
Reserved words in Ruby
Labs

Session 12: EXCEPTIONS

begin and end
Raise and rescue
Throw and catch
labs

FAQs

The Ruby Programming course combines practical learning with hands-on coding exercises to help you build confidence in the Ruby language. Whether you are new to Ruby or looking to strengthen your existing development skills, the course provides a structured introduction to the language and its practical application.

Do I need Ruby experience before attending?

No. The course is designed for people who are new to Ruby, but you should already have some programming experience. You’ll get more value from the course if you understand core programming ideas such as variables, functions, objects and basic application logic before you attend.

How will this course help me at work?

You’ll learn how to read, write and troubleshoot Ruby code with more accuracy. This is useful if you are joining a Ruby project, maintaining existing applications or need to understand how Ruby code behaves before making changes. The focus is on practical skills you can apply in development tasks.

Is this course focused on Ruby on Rails?

No. This course focuses on Ruby as a programming language rather than Ruby on Rails as a web framework. Building a strong understanding of Ruby first helps you work more effectively with Ruby-based applications and provides a clearer foundation if you later move into framework-led development.

What kind of coding tasks will I practice?

You’ll practice writing Ruby code that handles program logic, organises information, structures objects and deals with common coding issues. The exercises are designed to connect language features to realistic development tasks, so you can understand not only how Ruby works, but when to use specific techniques.

Who is this course best suited to?

No - this course focuses on Ruby programming itself. Once you’ve mastered the language fundamentals, you’ll be well prepared to progress to Ruby on Rails or other frameworks.This course is suited to developers, junior programmers and technical professionals who need to work with Ruby code. It is also relevant if you are moving into a development role, supporting an existing Ruby application or expanding your programming capability across another language.

Will I learn how to maintain existing Ruby code?

Yes. A key part of the course is understanding how Ruby code is structured, how application logic flows and how errors can be investigated. This helps you make safer updates, reduce guesswork and work more confidently when reviewing or changing code written by other developers.

What our customers say

“Tarn's presentation was a good mixture of practical examples and whiteboards, very well explained and he is obviously a subject matter expert. The exercises were really effective in consolidating the learning material.”

Diane, Infrastructure Engineer - Government

“Very well laid out and John does an amazing job of explaining things in detail.”

Ali, Operations Technical Service Analyst - Utilities

Why study with TSG?

25+ years' experience

Trusted by individuals, businesses and public sector organisations for over 25 years.

20,000+ learners trained

Join a network of learners focused on developing their software testing skills

98% customer satisfaction

TSG trainers are frequently rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by our learners

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