From: "David A. Black" Date: 2007-10-24T00:27:30+09:00 Subject: Re: Conflicts between using respond_to? and extending Ruby Hi -- On Wed, 24 Oct 2007, Rick DeNatale wrote: > On 10/23/07, Yossef Mendelssohn wrote: >> On Oct 22, 6:12 pm, "Rick DeNatale" wrote: >>> On 10/22/07, David A. Black wrote: >>> >>>> I've always thought that the situation with programming languages is a >>>> lot like that with musical instruments: they (languages or >>>> instruments) all do the same thing (implement algorithms or make >>>> music), but there's no denying, in either case, that different ones >>>> have very different properties and provide very different experiences. >>> >>> Not to mention different, and sometimes VERY different techniques to >>> 'play' them. >>> >> >> For instance, playing a brass or woodwind instrument simply requires a >> rest every now and then. > > I was thinking more along the lines like you don't play a kettledrum > with a guitar pick, or a guitar with mallets. (At least not usually). I think I took the bit about hitting a clarinet with a violin bow, or a basketball with a golf club, out of my "Coming from Ruby" article before it saw the light of day, but there are definitely some amusing possibilities there :-) >> I'm not sure what the programming language analog is, maybe memory >> management in C or something. > > A better analogy here might be playing a woodwind, where you have to > do your own "breath management" vs. playing a pipe organ, which has a > "breath collector!" What about the old days, when you'd have an apprentice working the bellows while you played? David -- Upcoming training by David A. Black/Ruby Power and Light, LLC: * Advancing With Rails, Edison, NJ, November 6-9 * Advancing With Rails, Berlin, Germany, November 19-22 * Intro to Rails, London, UK, December 3-6 (by Skills Matter) See http://www.rubypal.com for details!