In the world of enterprise programming, the mainstream is broad and deep. Code is written predominantly in one of a few major languages. For some shops, this means Java; for others, it's C# or PHP. Sometimes, enterprise coders will dabble in C++ or another common language used for high-performance tasks such as game programming, all of which turn around and speak SQL to the database.

Ruby, the popular open source dynamic language, is making headway not only on Java but also on the Windows and Mac platforms.

Anyone finding Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) subscriptions a tough sell for management used to Microsoft's one-time license fee for Windows must emphasize that there are more factors to be considered, chiefly return on investment, Red Hat officials said Friday.

Sun Microsystems' JRuby team is leaving the company to work for application hosting company Engine Yard, citing the uncertainty surrounding Sun's planned acquisition by Oracle.

Use of the Ruby programming language increased 40 percent among North American software developers in an Evans Data survey being unveiled on Tuesday.

For the Ruby language to avoid the same ill fate as Smalltalk, developers must use test-driven development to keep code clean, an industry executive stressed Wednesday evening at the RailsConf 2009 event in Las Vegas.

Heroku will debut on Friday its cloud service for Ruby applications, competing with Google and offering provisionless Web hosting.