From: Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@...>
Date: 2009-08-02T05:50:11+09:00
Subject: Re: How Come Ruby is Text-Oriented?

James Britt wrote:
> Mike Stephens wrote:
>>  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.
>>
> 
> Did you intend this parallel in your sentences?
> 
>   Ruby :: Smalltalk
>   Easy and accessible :: Dazzled by sophistication and complexity

I read it the other way around, with the rubies doing the dazzling.

My own feeling is that, to the extent that ruby forces a learner to 
interact with non-integrated components, it is better preparation for 
our non-integrated world of computing. Also, I've always liked how ruby 
encapsulates years of wisdom about unix (and to some extent windows) 
programming. You don't learn that from smalltalk. Or at least that's my 
impression, not having done much with smalltalk except read the Byte 
issue back in '81.

-- 
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407