Ruby 1.8.7 to 1.9.1 on OS X 10.6

I am currently learning Ruby using Ruby 1.8.7 (pre-installed on OS X 10.6) but understand the latest version is 1.9.1?

Is it a requirement for me to 'upgrade' this to get the most out of the language? What are the differences between 1.8.7 and 1.9.1?

If an upgrade is 开发者_如何学Pythonadvisable can anyone advise how I should go about upgrading my Ruby?

Currently the stable release is 1.9.2.

It's not mandatory to upgrade, although 1.9.2 offers better performance and some nifty features (e.g.: better Unicode support, Time and regex improvements, etc.).

Choosing to upgrade mostly depends on what you need to achieve, but I would suggest to install Ruby Version Manager, so that you can install all the versions you want and easily switch between them. You can find all the info at https://rvm.io and a nice guide here: http://ruby.about.com/od/rubyversionmanager/ss/Installing-Ruby-On-Snow-Leopard-With-Rvm.htm

There is nothing like a requirement but it is strongly encouraged by the community to use ruby 1.9.2.

The best way to give it a try is through RVM

RVM is cool. But probably later you will need another gnu software, not native in OS X. Therefore, i'm recommending to use macports.

• go to www.macports.org
• download the installation dmg
• install it
• open an new Terminal windows (or source ~/.profile )

Enter the following

sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install ruby19
port search rb19-

pick what you want and install them with port install command. (as above), for example

sudo port install rb19-rails
sudo port install rb19-rails_best_practices
sudo port install rb19-actionpack

and so on...

Note

• everything will compile, so need Installed Apple Developer, and will take a long time.
• you need to use /opt/local/bin/ruby and not /usr/bin/ruby

Everything will go into /opt/local tree - so does not interfere with your standard system binaries - your system remain untouched.