From: Richard Conroy <richard.conroy@...>
Date: 2010-02-03T03:24:34+09:00
Subject: Re: Why Ruby?

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On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 3:19 PM, Jim Maher <jdmaher@jdmaher.com> wrote:

>
> Is Ruby a good choice as a general usage programming language?  Why (or
> why not)?
>
>
Quick answer: Yes.

Ruby is a more sophisticated language than either Java or C# that you
mention.
Technically Java/C# have less features, so there should be less to learn, in
practice
that means a lot of your learning is postponed until you encounter the
various
parts of the ecosystem required to be productive.

However, you can be productive at a very early stage when learning Ruby.
Mastery
is not a requirement to get useful work done. Checkout the Ruby toolkit
Shoes or
HacketyHack to get an appreciation of what can be accomplished by complete
novices
in Ruby.

I have over a decade of experience with Java, and the largest ruby program I
have
written, barely tips the scales at 1000 LOC, but I still turn to Ruby when I
need to
get stuff done. In many cases I find I am more productive in Ruby than in
Java for
equivalent tasks.
-- 
http://richardconroy.blogspot.com

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