From: Phrogz Date: 2007-09-22T06:20:06+09:00 Subject: Re: I am new to Ruby and I could use some expert advice as t On Sep 21, 12:53 pm, 7stud -- wrote: > I too am having a hard time understanding why anyone would use Ruby. I personally love the syntax. It gives me great power with little typing, in a format that is easy for me to understand when I read my program a month later. > What is Ruby perfect for? "Perfect" might be an overstatement. I find it fantastic for quickly generating one-off programs and automating tasks. I use it for complex or repeated text manipulation, such as performing the same 10 regex replacements on 20 different files. I use it for code generation (creating C++ headers and code based on XML files). I use it for pulling large text information from a database, transforming it, and pushing it back up. (Automated updating of some pages, bypassing the web interface, if you must know.) I use it for generating help and example HTML files based on XML and other sources. > Also, why do you think Ruby will eventually surpass Python. I certainly have no such thoughts, one way or the other. I *hope* it will, because a larger library of contributors and libraries is always nice. But mostly I don't care about Python. I tried it, I have to program in it occasionally at work, and I personally don't like it nearly as much as Ruby. Programming languages are a personal choice. There's no need to argue about which is 'better' or 'worse'. You must decide for yourself what you need to get done, what language(s) allow you to accomplish those goals, and which you personally prefer.