Ruby is often referred to as an Object Oriented Scripting language. It made its first in-roads in Java and .NET circles in the form of tools like WATIR, a Ruby library that automates the act of stepping through a web application in a browser with code written in Ruby in a simple text file. The appeal was found in its simplicity and minimal setup, and the fact that it was Object Oriented was a nice plus.

Over time, it has been Ruby's OO nature that has attracted more and more developers to explore it. Not just for scripting tests for web applications, but for development of mission-critical applications for the web and the desktop.

Ruby is as powerful as it is simple and expressive. But between questions about speed and security and the substantial investment that most Java and .NET shops have invested in their platforms over the years, it had a difficult time making it into companies that didn't operate with an "early adopter" mindset.

Step ahead a couple of years and enter JRuby and IronRuby. With these two implementations of Ruby, for Java and .NET respectively, developers working on these platforms can begin to exploit the beauty and simplicity of Ruby to deliver highly readable and maintainable code and run it on the platforms they know.

David Chelimsky and Aslak Hellesøy came to Ruby from Java and .NET. In this session we're going to show you some of the things that attracted us to Ruby in the first place, and some of the things that we've grown to love through deeper understanding. We're going to ask you to solve some problems in the languages you know, and then work with you to solve them in the language we've grown to love.

What you'll leave with is a high level understanding of the differences and similarities between Ruby and Java/C#, an appreciation for the choices made by Ruby's creator, and a sense of how you might be able to fit Ruby into your development process.