Interactive learning tools are great for immediate feedback and clear, measurable progress. You don’t have to wait for some comprehensive test to see how you’re doing, taking in too much at once and knowing most of it will be lost.
I first got into the Koans through a Ruby for Programmers class at Blazing Cloud, where a handful that related to The Well-Grounded Rubyist reading were part of the exercises for that week.
They’re a fun way to get comfortable with the language and stay motivated, with zen messages like “Mountains are again merely mountains”, and “Things are not what they appear to be; Nor are they otherwise”.
EdgeCase developed the Koans as a series of tests to introduce the language, structure, and syntax of Ruby. They use the test-driven development mantra (Red, Green, Refactor) to walk you through running a failing test, writing the code to get it to pass, then reflecting on what you’ve learned and how it could be better. All you need is Ruby, the command line, a text editor, and the Koans.
Tags: eLearning, interactive learning, Koans, programming, Ruby, TDD, Test-Driven Development, web development
