From: Piers Cawley <pdcawley@...>
Date: 2001-07-25T20:02:19+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:18521] Re: Ruby as opposed to Python?

Dave Thomas <Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com> writes:
> Name: that kind of inner smile you get when coding. This is totally
> personal: Ruby suits the way I think, and the way I like to code. The
> path between idea and code is short, and once written the code
> expresses the ideas clearly. I like Ruby. I know that at least some
> other people feel the same way.

Oh yeah. I've still not sat down and programmed anything serious in
Ruby, though I've got an idea for a faintly silly project that might
suit (is their a ruby YACC yet? If not I may have to do a serious
project first so I can do my silly project), but I got a very strong
Quality Without A Name buzz just from reading the pickaxe book.
Actually, I first came across the Quality Without A Name from reading
The Timeless Way of Building, a java programming colleague assumed I
was reading it because of the Gang of Four and then had to explain who
they were.

> However, this is a question of personal preference, not any kind of
> absolute judgment. Many people feel the same way about Python, or Perl
> (or even, Lord help them, Java and VB). I don't see much point in
> trying to compare languages based on this: there's little shared frame
> of reference on which to base the comparison.

Oh yes. For me, Perl has the Quality Without A Name in spades. It's an
easy language to live and work in. But Perl is an expression in a
slightly different Pattern Language from that of Ruby...

-- 
Piers Cawley
www.iterative-software.com