As a programmer it helps to be comfortable across many different platforms, and learn to leverage the benefits of each. After purchasing my first Mac – an old MacBook – I set out to create a tailored environment that would help my Ruby (and other) development sing.

Cygwin can be a clever way for Windows environments to leverage the power of tools that might otherwise only be available in the Unix realm. If you attempt Ruby and ImageMagick stuff in it, though, be prepared for a fight…