One of the reasons for Ruby's growth in popularity over the past decade is due to the open source community building code libraries that can be implemented in other applications. Typically, these code libraries are called Ruby gems. In this chapter, you'll walk through and learn what Ruby gems are, how to use them, and where you can find new gems to give your Ruby programs additional functionality. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate how to integrate third-party code libraries
• Employ Ruby gems to add additional functionality to Ruby programs