From: Tomasz Wegrzanowski <taw@...>
Date: 2002-01-04T22:46:45+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:30214] Re: should I use ruby instead of perl

On Fri, Jan 04, 2002 at 08:32:26PM +0900, vekkuli ketkutin wrote:
> Seriously:
> 
> I need one solution for quick scripting, testing tool development,
> and making programs for my hobbies. I love Perl (no, not her -the language!)
> 
> but oop with it is really pain.
> Ruby seems to have it in the way I want it, but I'm not familiar enough
> with ruby yet to make my decision.
> 
> Perl is swiss army knife but I'm looking more finnish army knife.
> Best I could get would be new perl version with full oo support
> not doing:
> 
> each(@ar){print;}
> 
> but
> 
> ar.each.print()
> or
> import com.perl.script.*
> each(@ar){print;}
> 
> I should evaluate both but I 'm so lazy, you know

The problem with such questions is that people will give you answers
that are completely correct and at the same time completely useless, like:
* "it depends on what are you going to do with it"
* "every language has some strong points and some weak points"
* "you should check yourself which one you like most"
* "one size doesn't fit all"

Let P be the problem space, that is set of all problems that
can be solved by any language. Requirements like speed are
part of promlem. Let difficulty of solving a problem
be defined with positive real number.

No let's f_L(p) be function that gives difficulty of solving
problem p \in P in language L. This function changes to some extend
from one programmer to another.

Now let's D(p)->R_{0+}, p \in P be interest density function,
that is, function that shows what problems you are most interested in.

Our task is to find L that minimizes expresion \int D(p)*f_L(p) dp
Depending on D, it might be optimal to split it into {D_k}, \sum_k D_k = D, and use
set {L_k} of languages instead of single language.

So, you should:
* provide interest density function
* tell if you are going to use different language for some of your interest,
	most important is how likely are you to use C
* tell what is difficult for you, for example how good are you at visually
	parsing line noise^W^WPerl or using one or another paradigm

This way it's possible to come with useful solution.

----

I had problem similar to yours - I can write and read Perl easily
even most of japh sigs, but I have problems with deficiency of
data representation in Perl. Because Ruby is compatibile with Perl at
mental level, it was easy for me to move. I can solve problems with
it that i would normally use C for, because it would be very difficult
in Perl. Major problem is that it has less libraries, so I had to learn
how to C-extend Ruby (results are Ruby-GMP). Now I usually use Ruby
instead of Perl.