From: James Britt <james_b@...>
Date: 2005-04-09T22:46:56+09:00
Subject: Re: Welcome to our (ruby-talk ML)         You are added automatically

GK. Sezhian wrote:
> Hi all
>    This is GK.Sezhian working for BPL Telecom . If guys u can find some
> time to answer some of my basic doubts it will be more helpful.as Iam
> just bit confused to select among  groovy (Java )/python /Ruby for my
> future assignments
> 
> 1.Has anyone of you tried rubyonrails web app in your
> protyping/production ? 

Yes.

> 
> 2.What is the adv Ruby gives over python 
>    ...on googling I found an article stating just they are
> philosophically different??

Saying these two are "just" philosophically different is perhaps not 
completely accurate.  More important, while there are many languages 
that , technically, can help you achieve the same goals, you may prefer 
to use a language that maps well to your own particular style of thinking.

See also
http://www.ruby-doc.org/RubyEyeForThePythonGuy.html

> 
> 3.OO becomes a overhead in some cases
>   when a small coding stuff  can achieve that .

Ruby is OO, but you can ignore it if you choose.  If you think the 
situation is best handled using procedural programming, Ruby gives you 
the choice.
> 
> 4.I have just gone thro some perfomance results which rendered Ruby to
> be very slow is it ?

No.  It compares favorable with other interpreted languages.

> 
> 5.Does Ruby have strong user groups in term of count like python?

Oh yes.
> 
> 6.Can I get some reference where ruby has Been used in large /criical
> projects?

http://rubygarden.org/ruby?RealWorldRuby

> 
> 7.How is Ruby's performance with huge DB resultsets..

Don't personally know.
> 
> 8.How about the DB features supported by
>   Ruby..like Rowsets I java ...Transactional settings ...etc

Don't personally know, though I think that depends on the DB, not Ruby 
per se.

> 
> 9.What is the newest release in Ruby world like library,new language
> features,tools ...

There are new things all the time:

http://rubyforge.org/

(And a Ruby 1.8.3 preview should be coming along soon, too.)
> 
> 10. the end statement in ruby is bit tricky will it be changed ???

Tricky in what way?

> 
> 11.Template driven programming can reduces the developing time right ?

Maybe.  Depends on what your are developing, right?  And what other 
tools a language offers.

> Then what is the need of Ruby creating a whole set of new language form
> scratch ..i heard there are more than 200 odd languages available
> (programming languages) ..
> Here I mean to say what is the advantage of Ruby over grrovy/template
> programming..

Tough question, as it may depend on any number of factors.  Do you need 
to run on the JVM?  Are there specific libraries you require?
> 
> These are my inner quest questions...and iam looking for a compulsary
> reason to switch to Ruby.

I am unaware of any *compulsory* reason to use Ruby, but it is a fun, 
expressive language with a minimum of syntax surprises and arbitrary rules.

The best argument is experience. If you haven't already done so, try 
reading the free version of Programming Ruby

http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/

and try writing some code, and see for yourself.


Please feel free to ask more questions, and best of luck whatever you 
decide.


James

-- 

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