From: Ben Giddings <bg-rubytalk@...>
Date: 2005-08-11T00:42:09+09:00
Subject: Re: Yet Another useless Ruby 2 Idea

On Aug 4, 2005, at 13:20, Jeff Wood wrote:
> Yeah, I figured that out right after I had posted my message...
>
> But still, you can see that the python syntax is quite a bit more
> readable ( at least in this case ).

I completely disagree.  "item for item in items if item"?  How is  
that easy to understand?

The Ruby way may involve a few more keystrokes, but it's much more  
clear what's happening.

items.select {|item| item > 2 }.map {|item| item * 2 }

First you use "select", giving you an array, then you map the  
elements of the array to another.  The temporary variables you create  
are obvious, unlike the Python example where you start using the  
variable even before you declare it, and the two tasks (selecting  
certain elements of the array, and manipulating those elements) are  
cleanly separated.  To me, I can't tell if the "if item > 2" happens  
each time, or only once.

I think it's like lisp.  Once you get used to it, you can read it an  
parse it efficiently, but getting there is a real pain, and until  
your brain is used to those constructs it isn't at all intuitive.

Ben