From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2009-02-04T15:50:36+09:00
Subject: Re: Native gem roundup!

Charles Oliver Nutter wrote:
> Tom Cloyd wrote:
>> As someone with a social survey research background, I want to advise 
>> you that this is an extremely poor way to get your question answered. 
>> If you're not serious about getting a good answer, your request is 
>> very close to list-noise. If you are, then you need a decent sample 
>> OR all the parametric data (i.e., don't sample it - get it all).
>
> I disagree. I think the people most likely to respond to a 
> mailing-list request are the exact people I'm looking to reach. Did it 
> occur to you that perhaps I know there are download stats for all gems 
> that I could mine? I'm looking to gauge the importance of gems to 
> vocal mailing-list participants directly, by posting a general message 
> here and seeing who responds. And I've gotten a lot of great 
> responses, both on-list and off. If I wanted an accurate count of gem 
> downloads (no doubt inflated by older gems including dev-time 
> libraries as runtime dependencies) I certainly could get that. But 
> people coming out and saying "I really need X" is far more interesting.
>
> So please, others, feel free to reply with what X you find important.
>
> And Tom, thanks for your input. What native extensions do you find 
> useful?
>
> - Charlie
>
>
Ah, Charlie, most interesting. Your population of interest isn't those 
who USE gems but those who talk/yell/gossip/whatever about them. Unusual 
notion, I'd say, but hey it's YOUR study, so to speak. I care not. 
Thanks for the clarification however. And no, I didn't assume you knew 
about about any download stats - I certainly didnt', but I supposed they 
might exist.

My favorite gems:

date ruby-debug readline strscan logger fileutils webby

by extension, if you'll excuse my putting it that way, I'd have to 
include all their dependencies, too...(e.g, rake, etc.)

Final thought: If you're interested in what people "really need", I 
cannot image a better measure of that than what they really USE. And 
that is NOT the same universe as what those who respond to your query 
happen to talk about. I still think you have a problem - if not a 
sampling problem, then a study design problem. Sorry, I'm a bit perverse 
about such things. I like to get it right, even with it isn't even my 
own question. Some people turn to God in times of trouble. I turn to 
statistics. Never could tell the difference, really. (heh heh)

t.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< tc@tomcloyd.com >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website) 
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
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