[ruby-talk:13705] Re: Ruby on a JVM - good or bad idea?

On Monday 16 April 2001 10:11, Stefan Matthias Aust wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I've a question which might be asked a few times already, but I didn't
> found it in the FAQ yet.
>
> Like JPython opened a way to introduce a fine scripting language to
> larger Java projects in a seamless way, I wonder whether a similar
> approach for Ruby could be advantageous.
>

IMO it would.  As Stephanie pointed out, Java is 'ubiquitous'. In the IT 
world, it has become a 'standard' of sorts, whether justified or not.

Anyone who read the thread resulting from Stephanie's query re Ruby and Java 
knows I am not really a Java 'fan'. That said, I use, abuse, modify and 
sometimes create from scratch Java apps for web site embedding. also, I 
admire certain larger scale Java projects like JEdit, for example. Most of 
the Java applications I run across, though, are IMO in some way 'slow', or 
'kludgey', or truly 'write once - debug everywhere' , or just plain don't 
work as expected (POLS violation to the max). These things are just _my_ 
experiences; others' mileage may vary.

The primary 'problem' with Java IMO is not so much the language itself so 
much as the prevailing concept among IT management that it is some kind of 
'silver bullet', which it definitely is _not!_ 

This of course results from a long standing, prevailing  management attitude 
that (1) 'silver bullets' exist, (2) _management_ can find and identify them, 
and (3) _management_ is better-suited to find and enforce best solutions than 
are any mere employees, regardless of the fact that the latter may consist of 
experienced programmers, rocket scientists and PhD mathematicians!

IOW the 'problems' with Java IMO derive more from its PR than form the actual 
language itself.

And, with all of _that_ said, it would _still_ be good IMO for Ruby to be 
able to address the JVM; perhaps then some of those experienced programmers, 
rocket scientists and mathematicians will be able to, subversively at first, 
merge Ruby into the system. :-)

My 2 cents.

Regards,

Kent Starr
[e-mail]