> If Ruby is "easy to read" and assuming you know a similar programming language (such as Perl or Python), how difficult is it to learn Ruby and be able to write the code yourself?

Reading code doesn't mean you can write it, as any programmer will tell you.

If I want to know if a string in ruby begins with another string, is the method starts_with or start_with or startwith like python or is it like perl where I have to use some completely different method? I don't know, better google it.

But if I'm reading and see `str.start_with?("https://")` I know instantly what it's doing.