From: Robert Klemme Date: 2004-09-16T00:54:50+09:00 Subject: Re: Ex-Perl coders: Howz it feel to convert to Ruby? Although I don't regard myself as a diehard perl coder... "Chris" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:REY1d.17014$ZC7.9806@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com... > I didn't even think about asking this question until now, based on a > paragraph I wrote in another thread, so I thought I would ask... > > I've had this long time infatuation with Ruby and as a fairly proficient > Perl coder, have even recreated a few "Ruby things" in Perl over the > last few years. But a couple of "Wow!" factors in Ruby have kept me > hanging around and I've finally decided that the only way is to ween > myself off of Perl and just start using Ruby all the way. > > This is hard because I can't afford a lot of downtime, which has been > the biggest strike for me against using Ruby. I'm fairly fast, tight, > and concise at hitting targets using Perl and I don't want to loose that > productivity using Ruby. Still, it appears a "hit" has to be taken if I > really want to learn it as well as I know Perl. IMHO that will be the case with *any* language which you don't use for a long time: it just takes some initial learning until you reach the same (or even higher) speed as with a language that you're proficient in. If you can't afford that at all then I'd suggest to not switch at all *or* defer the switch, take your time and do Ruby stuff whenever you can afford until you reach the level of proficiency and speed that you need. > So the question for any hardcore Perl coders out there that have > converted to Perl (or are fluent in both) is: Is it really worth the > time? Are the paybacks there? And do you feel you've exceeded your > capabilities in Perl using Ruby? I'd say Ruby is worth the journey. I never got really acquainted with perl OO - which is a major nuisance IMHO. Also Perl has all sorts of specialities, which make it fast but can lead to ugly surprises ("sort works only with a restricted kind of block" is one of those exceptions). Personally I stepped into the "did I dereferenciate often enugh" trap often enough to slow me down. That might not be the case in your situation as hardcore perl coder though. > I perceive, from what I've read, that this could be the case. I see all > these "testimonials" that claim rapid development and this is inticing, > yet at the same time, having done *some* Ruby coding, this is a little > hard for me to believe because in my estimation, the paradigm in Ruby is > entirely different than in just about any other procedural language and > even from the OO aspects of Perl, C++ and Java. To me, the difference > between Ruby and just about anything else (common) is the same as when, > in the development world, many of us made the leap from procedural to > OO. I think the gap between Ruby and most everything else is that big > -- as well as the payoffs...? I wouldn't claim that big difference: Ruby OO <-> Perl OO, yes of course - perl OO is close to nonexistent. There is no unique way to create instances etc, which makes it hard to work with IMHO. Ruby OO <-> Java/C++ OO, much closer but less hazardous (C++ multiple inheritance) and more flexible (not only meta data inspection as in Java but also meta data *manipulation*, such as adding methods dynamically). > So I'm looking for feedback from those that have converted, esp. from a > hardcore Perl perspective. I hope these comments helped even I not from a "hardcore Perl perspective" but rather from a reasonable Perl background. :-) Kind regards robert