title: Setting up a Ruby development environment
body: <p>I am currently trying to set up a development environment for learning Ruby. The environment will primarily be for getting to grips with the language, but I will most probably move on to development with Rails after long. With web development a target, I would like to hear about preferred web servers and databases.</p>
  
  <p>I plan on setting up the environment on a virtual machine, so I'm not worried about trashing the thing. Therefore, I am open to using a Linux distribution, OSX or Windows as the operating system.</p>
  
  <p>I'm moving from C#, so I'd like to be forced into the Ruby way of thinking to a certain extent. Obviously, that's easier said than done.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>What OS do most Ruby developers use?</li>
  <li>What is the easiest IDE to get to
  grips with coming from a background
  of using Visual Studio? </li>
  <li>Which
  database is used most within the Ruby
  community?</li>
  <li>Which database is most
  likely to be supported by most web
  hosts?</li>
  <li>Which web server is the
  easiest to configure? To get up and
  running in the shortest amount of
  time.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Hopefully I have provided all the information needed and hopefully this will aid others in setting up their own environments.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Edit:</p>
    
    <p>Thanks guys. Some really good
    suggestions so far, all of which I'll
    take on board. I'm currently wading
    through the copious articles surrounding
    initial RoR setup on Linux, as I like to
    understand how things work and are
    tied together. Also, because it's all
    free...</p>
    
    <p>I'm currently putting together a
    virtual machine (so I can break stuff)
    using:</p>
    
    <ul>
    <li>Ubuntu</li>
    <li>SQLite</li>
    <li>No webserver, I plan on using whatever development server comes with Rails out of the box, initially</li>
    <li><a href="http://redcareditor.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Redcar Editor</a></li>
    </ul>
    
    <p>Edit 2</p>
    
    <p>I have setup a couple of environments
    now.</p>
    
    <p>I have the ubuntu setup running in a
    Virtual Machine on Windows and decided
    to try decking my Mac out for ruby
    development too.</p>
    
    <p>Overall, I'd have to say setup for the
    mac was a lot less painful than the
    linux setup. On the mac I'm running
    with:</p>
    
    <ul>
    <li>SQLite that comes with OSX out of the box(!)</li>
    <li>TextMate (trial version, but loving it)</li>
    <li>Mongrel web server</li>
    </ul>
    
    <p>I've progressed from learning the ways
    of Ruby to writing some simple
    websites with Rails and am finding
    development with Rails really simple
    to use. I have also set up a GIT
    repository on my working directory and
    am currently trying out Heroku.</p>
    
    <p>Thanks for the help, everyone.</p>
    
    <p>If anyone would like any more information about setting up on either environment, I'd be happy to provide more detail.</p>
  </blockquote>