Hackety Hack makes Ruby sort of like BASIC. From the fellow who brought you Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby, it’s a downloadable program (basically the Ruby language, the Gecko browser, and some helpful libraries) designed to introduce geek wannabes to the world of programming. For a slightly less kid-oriented approach, check out Try Ruby, which is a browser-based version of the same thing by the same guy. (MetaFilterrific.)
The snarkmatrix awaits you