Rails - Apr 2006 - documentation question (ri and binding vs. get_binding vd getBinding)

I was reading up on ERB documentation and a snippet on rhtml
requiring the use of Object.get_binding caught my attention:

...
rhtml = ERB.new("someTemplate")
rhtml.run(someObject.get_binding)
...

Curious about tools I have at my disposal to learn more about things
I don''t know about Ruby, i typed the following into my DOS console:

ri get_binding

and got the following disappointing message:

Nothing known about get_binding

Since I know that Object "inherits" from Kernel, I did an ri Kernel,
and saw the documentation for binding, which referred me to the Binding class
for more info.  With those steps, I got a better understanding of binding,
BUT i do have the following questions:

(1) where did the get prefix convention come from?
(2) how would a newbie know that the get prefix is required (i''m
assuming it is
because the code examples would have said something else otherwise?)
(3) where else does this "convention" apply to?

also, i noticed that ri as it''s currently setup in my environment (ruby
1.8.4 RC1
for Windows, Rails 1.1) only provides info on Ruby classes, modules, and methods
and provides no help at all for Rails stuff. I do know about
http://api.rubyonrails.com, BUT i was just wondering:

(4) is there anything I can do to get Rails usage help within my local
environment?

finally, i come from a java background and java IDEs have matured to a point
where i can get code assists and follow links to classes and methods to get
contextual help on those classes and methods.  For Ruby, I''ve been
using RADRails but it doesn''t seem to offer a lot of such conveniences
(other than making ri available within the IDE). So my final question is:

(5) what tools can you recommend for a Ruby/RoR on Windows environment?

Thank you for any help!




		
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