From: MRH <mauriceroman@...>
Date: 2008-06-01T00:14:43+09:00
Subject: Re: Should I Learn Ruby as a First Language?

Todd,

Thank you for your reply.

> That type of thing pops up pretty often on this group.
>
> In engineering, you _need_ to know the fundamentals.  With Ruby, it is
> somewhat of a gray area.  With Rails, you risk giving something to
> somebody that is powerful with the side effect of gun-in-baby's-hands
> syndrome.

I know what you mean (and what others mean who have voiced analogous
conclusions) I used to translate legal documents professionally, and
was often horrified by translations created using translation software
by people who - even though they were bilingual - had no knowledge of
the underlying principles and subject. It is one of the reasons I left
that market: since those folks would do it for peanuts, companies
began to send me that stuff expecting me to "just clean it up" for 1/3
the going rate since "well, it is more than halfway done" (when in
actuality it takes 200% more work to clean up a mess than to start
from scratch and do it right the first time) . . .

> So, where do you start?  I'd say skim through the K&R C book,
> read/scan through a couple of design oriented books, and then tackle
> Ruby/Python/Perl/whatever with an open mind (meaning, awareness of
> different programming paradigms -- hanging out in the book store is
> not only pragmatic, but also allows you to ogle your
> competition/pretty girls or guys/whatever :)

I will keep this approach in mind, it strikes me as very pragmatic and
balanced, I had considered something similar but figured I was wrong
by not knowing enough to reach an accurate conclusion in the first
place. Oh, and btw, it's girls I ogle ;)

> Programming is not entirely Knuth anymore.  Although, you could learn
> a lot from the guy.  On a similar note, a person should avoid trying
> to turn Ruby into C or Python like 7stud and some others like to.

Will keep in mind . . .

Cheers,

Maurice