From: Peter Burns Date: 2005-11-29T15:16:02+09:00 Subject: Re: Programming Newbie: Ruby or Java? On 11/28/05, Christian Leskowsky wrote: > I see where you're coming from. I think there may even be a thread over on > java.net talking about boiler plate code in Java (eg. the new for/in syntax > in 1.5 was added to get rid of the repetitive iterator blocks). > > I wish people wouldn't use lines of code as a metric for the goodness of > Ruby though. I think Ruby is neat too, but not because I'm typing less. ;p > > Take care, > > - > Chris > Lines of code can be a predictor of the number of things that the language requires the programmer to deal with. The obvious gripe with Java here is that it requires all programs to be classes, thus making even a simple hello world program five lines long with all sorts of crazy black box code. I think it could be a detriment to a new programmer to have to put in so much voodoo code. It makes the system seem strange and unapproachable. The questions I always had when I was learning Java as a newbie programmer like "Why do I have to put static in front of my functions?" bothered me, especially when I couldn't understand word one of the answers to them. Ruby is nice in the context of just learning to program because you can generally approach one concept at a time. I also find ruby to be generally more readable, and that is very useful when all of the concepts are still so new and foreign. I think that a new programmer would feel as though they understood more of their code when writing in ruby. If that leads one to play around and try stuff out more, then that's a huge win, because experimenting and seeing what happens is (for me at least) the single best way to really, truly learn something.