From: Peter Booth Date: 2009-04-13T06:40:48+09:00 Subject: Re: Can Ruby stay ahead ? It's obvious that Java is post-mature, and another language/platform will replace it as the default language choice for general purpose programming. It is not obvious what will take Java's place. Technical features are not the most important factors in why a language becomes dominant. Low cost of entry, sexy tools, a functional community and endorsement by influential parties are all important. In theory JRuby is an obviously good idea. How much uptake is it getting? Can anyone speak about their experience using java tools like Yourkit or JxInsight or Optomizeit or Wily Introscope with JRuby? On Apr 12, 2009, at 12:42 PM, Christopher Dicely wrote: > On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 8:50 AM, Robert Klemme > wrote: >> On 11.04.2009 21:14, Charles Oliver Nutter wrote: >>> >>> The truth is the C implementations of Ruby are only one part of >>> our quest >>> to conquer the world...there are a lot of developers out there on >>> existing >>> VMs and platforms that need to be brought into the fold. And >>> they're not >>> going to leave those platforms. The best way to bring them over is >>> to >>> embrace the Ruby implementations for those platforms, and do >>> everything >>> possible to make sure they're top-notch. The alternative is losing >>> mindshare >>> to languages like Groovy or Scala on the JVM or IronPython, F#, or >>> C# on the >>> CLR. >> >> But why do you say those people "_need_ to be brought into the >> fold"? Do we >> (or Ruby) really loose something if we do not insist on converting >> the world >> over to Ruby? > > Unfortunately, yes. Broadly speaking, the less widely used a language > is, the less effort and investment is placed into maintaining and > advancing it. But diversity helps, too, as the best new ideas from > Ruby may well come from things that come from other languages which > encourage different ways of thinking about the same problems. >