From: Dave Bettin <me@...>
Date: 2005-10-18T07:57:16+09:00
Subject: A couple of questions/statements from a Ruby neohacker

I started my programming career off with PHP and ColdFusion. I loved the 
feedback loop with these languages but quickly favored building a 
maintainable application over a pile of spaghetti that was often 
engendered by these languages. Entered java, I programmed in java for 5 
years and then the noise and bloat got to me. I have been programming in 
C# for the last three years (Mono/CLR) and this language still sits atop 
my favorite static language list. But there is something about Ruby that 
makes my inner geek giddy. I think I finally found a language that hits 
the sweetspot. Ruby makes both the hacker and developer in me happy.

With that said, I have an agenda; I want to see ruby make it.  And it 
looks like Rails is quickly becoming the evangelist for Ruby.

But there are three items that concern me about the Ruby platform and 
not necessarily the language.

1) Consistency in naming/coding conventions. The standard library module 
and class list is not the prettiest thing to look at. Is there a 
standard for naming/coding conventions in Ruby? I believe it is very 
important for Ruby to have consistency with its conventions.

2) A solid/sophisticated VM. Speed/scalability/virtualization is 
crucial. And I am not sure that the CLR or JVM is the answer, I believe 
it will cause much more pain then gain for Ruby. I know there is YARV 
but  is it really going to see the light of day?

3) Finally, the unixisms in the library. Face it we live in a 
heterogeneous world and these libraries must face this reality. I 
understand the ancestry of Ruby is  unix but will we see better system 
abstractions for the libraries in the future? Maybe the answer to number 
will this question too.

I am not so worried by the lack of enterprise level libraries or 
documentation.. this will come (maybe from Commercial backing).

Thanks,
Dave
"Ruby for the Masses!"