From: jason@... (Jason Voegele)
Date: 2001-11-14T01:49:36+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:25034] Re: Linux Magazine article

Dave Thomas <Dave@PragmaticProgrammer.com> wrote in message news:<m28zdbio7d.fsf@zip.local.thomases.com>...
> Andy & I've been asked to write a feature article about Ruby for Linux
> Magazine (www.linux-mag.com).
> 
> I want to make this an upbeat article, featuring Ruby's strengths, and
> not other language's weaknesses. So, a quick poll request: what
> features of Ruby do you think would most impress or excite someone who
> hasn't used the language yet? 

Everyone else has already mentioned all of my favorite specific
features, but one thing that caught my attention was the chapter in
the Pickaxe Book describing the "Object Oriented Design Libraries". 
I'm amazed at how incredibly easy it is to implement common design
patterns in Ruby.  Example implementations of some of these (perhaps
taken from http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?ExampleDesignPatternsInRuby
) could show the true power of Ruby.

> What small applications would whet
> people's appetites?

A few ideas spring to mind:

* A command-line or Tk SQL tool (too big?)
* A simple Web server
* A Web search engine
* Anything using drb :)

Jason Voegele