From: John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondanger@...>
Date: 2007-10-24T00:52:30+09:00
Subject: Re: IronRuby...will it be like J++?


On Oct 23, 2007, at 7:44 AM, Robert Dober wrote:

> On 10/23/07, Todd Benson <caduceass@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 10/23/07, Robert Dober <robert.dober@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> But that is exactly what I wanted to say:
>>> * These are nice guys (until proven the contrary, do we all agree to
>>> this fundamental  human right?)
>>> * But M$, Sun etc are dangerous monsters (until proven the contrary)
>>> * We all depend on such monsters
>>>
>>> Sorry if I was not clear.
>>> Robert
>>
>> I wasn't clear either :-)
>>
>> My post wasn't aimed at you, but at the thread.  I'm still an infant
>> when it comes to proper group discussion.
> I have been told off list that I do not understand what a ML is at  
> all!!!
> But I guess I am too old for that now, still enjoying being here :)
> R.
Don't worry Robert, I suspect there are some people who are not used  
to the Ruby-Talk way of unmoderated tangents. They're often used to  
very strict MLs. The mailing lists for Apple (Cocoa ML is notoriously  
strict)
It makes sense, that busy MLs will be strict.

Back to topic. I agree that the CLR is the scarriest part of  
IronRuby. There is much potential for people to learn Ruby only to  
write Windows-only Ruby. In itself this is not a bad thing. (there is  
RubyCocoa, though it is a bridge and not strictly a runtime)
The bad potential is that MS or 3rd party books may teach Ruby using  
IronRuby but may fail to teach what things are only used in the MS  
CLR. Thus far, Ruby has been blessed with many Gems that try to be  
abstract interfaces to cross-platform actions, I hope it stays that way.