From: "James G. Britt" Date: 2005-02-15T03:10:28+09:00 Subject: Re: Printing why's (poignant) guide to ruby On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 02:39:08 +0900, Marcus Sharp wrote: > *putting on flame retardant pants* > > As a noob to Ruby who was convinced to try it after reading why's > wonderful work, i will say that i find Ruby "harder" than Python. To > call Python a "joke of a language" is pretty harsh by the way. It is not merely harsh; it is incorrect. Most people here prefer Ruby to Python, but don't simply dismiss Python either. > It is > taking me much, much longer to work my way through the PickAxe book > than it did Learning Python. In just a few days of that book, I wrote > fully functional (albeit very tiny) applications that did what I > needed them to do. As well, at the time, the Python community was > helpful to the noob. Of course, Python doesn't have why, so it loses > on that aspect. :) The Pickaxe is not the best Ruby intro for all people. It is a good work, but (as with all such books) it makes certain assumptions about prior experience and expectations that just can't be true for everyone. > > I did go and find a used copy of Learn Ruby in 21 Days and it does > seem to be a bit easier to get through so far, but the Ruby syntax is > a bit more work for me whereas in Python I feel like I'm writing > pseudo code that actually works. But that's just me, your average > newbie (or maybe to you I'm an idiot) , and it of course in no way > reflects on the writings mentioned, nor the language. And I do intend > to get through the Ruby books eventually.... If you aren't already familiar with the site, go poke around http://www.ruby-doc.org, in particular http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ruby-doc-bundle/ and http://www.ruby-doc.org/docbar/ James