From: James Britt <jamesUNDERBARb@...>
Date: 2004-12-30T15:22:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Best ways to accelerate Ruby's popularity

darren wrote:
> 1.  Put a few links that target specific people.  For example, make it easy 
> for them to find information on how Ruby compares to their current language.  
> Make a link, "How Ruby compares to:  Smalltalk, Python, C, C++", where 
> Smalltalk, Python, C and C++ are separate links to brief examples of code 
> snippets that illustrate how you would do a loop (or something) in that 
> language and in Ruby.  

Rather than comparisons to other languages,  it would be better to offer 
specific information on accomplishing various practical tasks.  Perhaps 
within a task-oriented section one could offer a comparison with another 
language as a way of explaining A Ruby Way of doing something in terms a 
Ruby newcomer might better understand, but what wins people over is the 
specific knowledge that a tool will help them accomplish some 
well-defined goal.

Point people to web development kits, database bindings, text-processing 
libraries, XML tools, unit testing frameworks, distributed programming 
code, and so on.

Language comparisons tend to get too abstract for most people, and are 
often a source of goofy flame wars, as it seems nobody understands The 
Other Language well enough to get it Just Right.

The site should be task-oriented, and unless the visitor is a language 
buff or dilettante, the Ruby <-> #{language} stuff is academic.

A language attracts people looking to do something their current 
language does not do well, if at all.

James