Two ways to write "the same word"

Two values, same letters, different objects

"name"
:name

Both hold the letters n-a-m-e and sound the same read aloud. They're different kinds of object, though: a String and a Symbol, each with its own rules. This course covers what separates them and when to use each.

Symbol syntax: a colon in front

A symbol literal is a colon followed by a name, with no quotes.

:name
:active
:admin

That's all the syntax: a colon right before a valid identifier. There are no quotes because a symbol isn't text the way a string is. The rest of the course explains the difference.

Confirming two different classes

The Ruby: programmer happiness course showed that everything is an object and every object has a class. "name" and :name have different classes.

"name".class    # => String
:name.class     # => Symbol

String covers ordinary text, which a later course covers fully. Symbol is a separate class, and the remaining six lessons cover the practical differences that creates.

What they have in common

First, what they share. Both hold a sequence of characters, both can be compared, and each converts to the other. :name == :name and "name" == "name" are both true. Neither is the wrong choice in general. They're tools for different jobs, the contextual choice Ruby: programmer happiness described in its lesson 4.

What this course covers

• Lesson 1, Two ways to write "the same word": String and Symbol, two different classes for what sounds like the same value (you are here)
• Lesson 2, Mutable strings, immutable symbols: one of them can change in place, the other never can
• Lesson 3, Object identity: why every :name in a program is the same object
• Lesson 4, Memory efficiency and comparison speed: why that identity matters at real scale
• Lesson 5, When to use symbols: hash keys, fixed identifiers, and where strings still win
• Lesson 6, Converting between them: to_sym and to_s
• Lesson 7, Putting it together: a small challenge choosing the right one deliberately

By the end, you'll know why real code uses "status" in one place and :status in another.