From: Christopher Dunn <cdunn2001@...>
Date: 2006-03-03T01:39:29+09:00
Subject: Re: Write Fortran in Ruby

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Try to write the following Fortran 77 program (note the
6 space indentation) in Ruby so that it looks as close
to the Fortran as possible without extending Ruby:

      program ii
      integer i
      do i=3D0,10
         print*,i
         if (i.gt.5) goto 1
      enddo
1     print*,i*i
      end

Here's the Python candidate to date:

for i in range(10):
    #begin
    print i
    if i>5: break
    #end
print i*i

-----------------------
Better Python candidate...

     from operator import gt
     class goto1: pass
     try:
      for i in range(0,10):
       print i
       if gt(i,5): raise goto1
      #endfor
     except goto1: pass
     finally:
      print i*i
     #end

But why is anyone trying to convince a fortran programmer to use a slow,
dynamic language? This reminds me: Too many of the language debates
concentrate on static vs. dynamic typing. The real issue is type
declarations. They waste time during proto-typing. But there is another way
to eliminate those pesky declarations: type-inferencing.

People are spending a lot of time trying to "optimize" Ruby, Python, and
Perl. They're all hitting the same problem: dynamic typing. It's
insurmountable. I was really hoping that Ruby could be THE language, but
last night, browsing the Great Language Shootout page, I noticed a problem:
Ruby is SLOW! Even compared to Python.

Boo and Ocaml are examples of fast, agile languages, and if more companies
would adopt them, I'd switch in a heartbeat.

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