Yes and no. The basics, easier. The non-basics, harder. Java-the-language is (almost) very simple. Ruby-the-language, due to its dynamic nature and meta-programming capabilities, is harder.
I disagree that you *need* to know the complicated stuff, especially when starting out. Lots of very productive work is done in Ruby without knowing anything about metaprogramming.
Yes, it depends on what you're learning - and who you are. For me, Ruby is much easier than Java overall. Learning the basics of Ruby is easier than learning the basics of Java for most beginners, and the Ruby environment (APIs, popular libraries, standards) is tiny compared to Java's huge Land Of Acronyms (LOA).
That being said, I agree that learning the details of the Ruby language is arguably more difficult than learning advanced Java. Ruby is easy to learn, harder to master.
Paolo Perrotta, Europe
Author of Metaprogramming Ruby
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ppmetr/metaprogramming-ruby
I agree. Here's the link: http://ej-technologies/jprofiler - if it wasn't for jprofiler, we would need to
run our stuff on 16 servers instead of 3.
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