From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2007-03-11T04:35:17+09:00
Subject: Re: A couple of questions from a Ruby neophyte

On Sat, Mar 10, 2007 at 09:15:05PM +0900, Lawrence Oluyede wrote:
> Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> wrote:
> > If you've ever noticed the way OOP characteristics look bolted-on in
> > Perl, you might understand how regex support looks bolted-on in Python.
> > For one thing, regex support is provided only through a library, rather
> > than as part of the core language -- in other words, it really *is*
> > bolted on.
> 
> That's maybe a deficiency in language design but I don't think the
> Python's regex support is worse because of that. The 're' module
> <http://docs.python.org/lib/module-re.html> is very comprehensive and
> it's object oriented. The matching objects are _objects_ indeed. Ruby
> does have regexp support builtin but hey, there must be some differences
> between the languages or we won't be here to talk about those :-)

It may not be worse internally, but it's more annoying to use -- and
really, the important bit for language design is how we end up having to
use it.  The principles of OOP actually support me in this: I shouldn't
care about the internal workings of Python's regex engine as much as the
interface through which I use it.  If the interface sucks, it sucks; if
the interface is good, it's good.


> 
> > You might want to judge Ruby syntax on something other than a
> > demonstration of irb.
> 
> I agree. My first taste of Ruby syntax was not really that good but
> after a couple of more bites I really enjoyed the meal and there are
> cases where I find Ruby to cleaner than Python.

I've come to believe that Ruby and Python probably have equivalently
clean, elegant syntax -- but one or the other may look more or less
clean and elegant, depending on personal taste, and depending on the
specific bit of code you're writing.  Overall, I find Ruby more readable
than Python, but then I find Python's reliance on whitespace to define
blocks (in the generic, non-Ruby sense of the term "blocks") of code
somewhat less conducive to readability than the way Ruby lends itself to
being written.  It's probably just a personal thing.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"There comes a time in the history of any project when it becomes necessary
to shoot the engineers and begin production." - MacUser, November 1990