From: James Britt <james_b@...>
Date: 2005-05-31T01:42:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby != POLS [was Re: creating variable with eval]

Gavin Kistner wrote:
...

> 
> I have seen various powerpoint slides that tout Ruby's POLS as a  
> feature; I personally find them to smell overly of hype, and (to the  
> degree that I believe such overreaching claims will turn off  newcomers 
> who can sense marketese) would suggest that we heavily tone  down any 
> invocations of the POLS.
> 

Yes, and in general the hype that tends to bite back are the assertions 
that are largely subjective or otherwise unverifiable.

Claims of faster development, greater productivity, least surprise, most 
natural syntax, and such, are next to impossible to objectively 
quantify, so someone looking to knock Ruby, or anyone who is reasonably 
skeptical, will find it easy to toss back counter-claims and disappointment.

However true these claims may be for most (if not all) of the people 
reading ruby-talk, they are not things you can simply push on people new 
to Ruby. Folks need to discover (or not, as the case may be) them 
through personal experience.


James