From: Phillip Gawlowski <pg@...>
Date: 2009-12-30T02:00:41+09:00
Subject: Re: A Ruby appliance: What would you include?

On 29.12.2009 17:51, Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote:

> It wouldn't be hard to do this in Ubuntu either, I think, and Ubuntu
> configuration is generally very easy.

Solvable in a script, that deletes the current symlink, and creates a 
new one. Call it switch, give it the commandline argument "ruby", and 
you have a nice little "switch ruby" command. ;)

> No, I don't think it's appropriate to include an IDE in something like
> this.  Perhaps there should be links to info about some, but I see no
> reason that they should be preinstalled.

Couple of reason pro-IDE:
- Most developers are already used to IDEs, be it Visual Studio, 
NetBeans, or IntelliJ IDEA.
- IDEs (especially NetBeans, IME), provide excellent support for syntax 
highlighting, debugging, and plugin management (NetBeans has a nice 
integration for RubyGems, for example).

Cons:
- Redistribution isn't always possible
- Redistribution can create a significant overhead
- It's one more thing to keep track of.

A simple text editor that allows to run Ruby scripts in its buffer(s) at 
the push of a button is already a great step forward, IMO.

--
Phillip Gawlowski