From: Robert Dober Date: 2009-04-14T03:34:02+09:00 Subject: Re: Ruby vs. Groovy: your perspective On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 4:43 PM, James Gray wrote: > On Apr 13, 2009, at 9:05 AM, Diego.Virasoro@gmail.com wrote: > >> And currently Ruby seems more elegant. But is this true? > > This is pretty much personal opinion.  Which ever one feels better to you is > better. > >> And is it more powerful? > > There's no such thing.  Both languages are Turing Complete > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_complete).  Thus, they are literally > capable of the same things. Of course, but I would like to give a broader interpretation to "performance". There are (at least) two interpretations of "powerful" that make a difference here. The first is "how fast I can achieve my goal", and I believe Ruby is difficult to beat in this domain. This only might not be true in the case of the need of some very specific java libraries to be reused. Groovy might have an adavantage here, which otoh you might be able to overcome with JRuby :). (1) If, and it is a big IF, you mean execution speed with powerful, Groovy is probably faster, but yet there is JRuby and unless heading into the direction of some very specific code, worrying about speed now is a bad decision. Really I did not like Groovy but that is why I am on this list :). Check it out by all means if you are not happy with Ruby, but its is quite clear, that on this list most folks will concur with your first impressions ;). (1) Avoid continuations > >> And it's easier to use? Actually maybe not, Ruby has some subtleties which Groovy might not have, but to learn them is very rewarding and relatively easy because of excellent material available (c.f. Pickaxe book http://www.pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9 of which you find an older version for Ruby1.8 online which I would recommend by all means ) and also thanks to some very helpful folks on this list. HTH Robert -- Si tu veux construire un bateau ... Ne rassemble pas des hommes pour aller chercher du bois, préparer des outils, répartir les tâches, alléger le travail… mais enseigne aux gens la nostalgie de l’infini de la mer. If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry