$:.unshift File.expand_path(path, __FILE__)
I saw this line of code somewhere and i felt kind of confuse about it and intimidate. That's why, i'll try to explain what i've found so far (if there is any errors, feel free to point them out).
What is this $: ?
This alien thing $: is a shortcut referencing the $LOAD_PATH. What is the $LOAD_PATH ?
The $LOAD_PATH is a global variable as you can tell from $ at the beginning. A global variable is a variable which
is accessible from everywhere in a given context. For example take a look at the function below :