From: ptkwt@...1.aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2002-01-13T04:46:40+09:00
Subject: Re: Why I think Ruby will eventually be more popular than Python

In article <752891fc.0201121120.6b036764@posting.google.com>,
Thomas Gandy <gandy@techie.com> wrote:
[snip]
>
>Ultimatly, the 'flexible' mentality won over the 'puritan' mentality
>because in C you had more freedom.
>
>Now fast forward to the present...  I see a lot of the same 'puritan'
>attitude in the Python camp as was in the Pascal camp back then.
>
>Not to say that Ruby is a messy hacker language - it's really quite
>clean and concise, very similar to Python really.  But Ruby allows you
>to do things like change the behavior of built-in types if you like,
>for example.  Ruby is just more flexible and history shows that
>flexibility ultimately wins over purity.
>

I have to admit I've been lurking in comp.lang.python lately and I do 
notice a different attitude there that I find... 'constrictive' ;-)
I'm sure this attitude is an outgrowth of Python's philosophy - it 
feels almost like you just shouldn't be allowed to do certain things.

But "to each his own".  They have their reasons for preferring that 
philosophy and it does have some merit, but personally I much prefer the 
Ruby Way. YMMV

Phil