From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2001-10-24T03:52:38+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:23068] Re: Bruce Eckel's opinion of Ruby

"Rich Kilmer" <rich@infoether.com> writes:

> http://www.mindview.net/Etc/FAQ.html#Ruby
> 
> Thoughts?

This was discussed a while back, if I remember correctly.

Personally, I'm happy Bruce took the time to look at the book, and
then to write something about Ruby. I'm surprised that he didn't
actually _try_ Ruby before writing, as some of Ruby's benefits are
subtle, and really only come out after you're got some code under your
belt. However, that's his choice.

His criteria seems to be that a language should make you twice as
productive before you switch. I'm not sure how I'd measure that, but
I'd guess that although Ruby is more productive than Python in some
areas (and less in others), you might not be looking at short-term
doubling of productivity.

However, my personal criteria are different. Yes, I want to be
productive.  But I also want to enjoy what I'm doing. That happens for
me when the distance between what I'm thinking and what I'm typing is
small. For me (let me say that again: for me) the gap is smaller in
Ruby than in any other language I've tried (and like Bruce I've tried
a few... :) I'm glad Bruce is happy with Python: every developer needs
to find a language that makes them happy. I'll be sticking with Ruby.


Dave