From: "David A. Black" <dblack@...>
Date: 2009-08-01T20:16:35+09:00
Subject: Re: How Come Ruby is Text-Oriented?

Hi --

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009, Mike Stephens wrote:

> The point I really meant to get across is why are we typing text INTO AN
> EDITOR.
> Smalltalk arrived in an era of single tier systems and provided its own
> windowing environment that was integrated. Nowadays we have more varied
> environments - particularly web - but you have to stick various other
> tools together to make a working system (IDE, Web design package etc).
> Smalltalk wasn't just a programming paradigm, it was also a philosophy
> of how to make computers easy to program. There is none of that in Ruby.
> Most experts seem to talk to each other like boffins at a rocket science
> convention. That's just what I noticed if I compare typical Ruby books
> with Smalltalk. One is trying to open up capability by making things
> easy and accessible; the other is dazzled by sophistication and
> complexity.

Then you have to start reading atypical Ruby books. I know a couple of
very nurturing ones I can recommend :-)

I guess I've had a very different Ruby experience from yours, over the
years. I've never come across a group of people more dedicated to
helping others gain an understanding and enjoy what they're doing. So
I can't really comment on that part. As for the editor thing: that's
just a matter of what you're comfortable with. Ruby per se doesn't
make you use one development environment over another.


David

-- 
David A. Black / Ruby Power and Light, LLC / http://www.rubypal.com
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