Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional

Chapter 17. Useful Ruby Libraries and Gems

This chapter is a basic reference to a collection of useful Ruby libraries and RubyGems that you might want to use in your programs. We're going to look at libraries covering a vast array of functionality, from networking and Internet access to file parsing and compression. The libraries in this chapter are in alphabetical order, and each library starts on a new page with the name as the page header for easy browsing. Below each library's title, several subsections follow:

• Overview: A description of what the library does, its basic functionality, and why you would want to use it. The overview has no header, but is directly beneath the library name.

• Installation: Information on where the library is found, ...