RE: seeking to understand...

I am a Java and Python programmer and have recently taken a look at Ruby. I
also have great respect for Mr. Eckel and think that his books are wonderful
and that he is a great teacher. However, unlike many, I believe there is
always room for another language.

What initially drew me to Ruby was the claim that Ruby is completely object
oriented along similar lines to SmallTalk. Also the fact that it is a fairly
compact language (like Python), appealed to me.

In my recent and somewhat limited exposure to Ruby (I read the pickaxe book
and The Ruby Way and have experimented with code samples of my own), I like
Ruby. But, I have found that Python is probably a better language for me.
Unlike Mr. Eckel, I don't view Ruby as a Python clone but rather as an
improved Perl. Ruby offers much of the power of Perl but in a far more
structured way. 

I will continue to dabble in Ruby but will stick with Python primarily
because I like the explicitness of Python. Since about 80% of my time is
spent maintaining and enhancing old code, explicit is good! The readability
of my old Python code is great and I fear that like Perl, old Ruby code may
take a little while to figure out.

In my opinion, if you like Perl, you'll love Ruby. But if you come from a
background of VB or Java, you will probably prefer Python.

My $0.02,
Barron

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Probert 
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 11:13 AM
To: [e-mail]
Subject: seeking to understand...


Dear All,

[Please note that I don't want to start a flame-fest, rather to
seek to understand.  I seek to cause no offence in sending this
post and humbly apologise if it does.]

I recently found the following article at Bruce Eckel's site:

         http://www.mindview.net/Etc/FAQ.html#Ruby

In it, he says --

"FWIW, I usually find that this question [Do you have any opinions
about the Ruby language, especially compared to Python?] is asked
by someone who is considering learning to program, and was snagged
by the fact that Ruby is new, and perhaps thinks that it's going to
be the next great thing like Java. From everything I can see, it's
not. For some reason, the creator of the language saw Python and
decided to do a clone, and people who had never used Python thought
it was a good idea. Harsh, maybe, but that's my impression: if you've
used Python at all, you wouldn't give Ruby a second glance."

Mr Eckel is entitled to his opinion.  I have read and respected his
opinion based on the "Thinking in..." books and earlier works of his
I have read in various journals, so I don't want to dismiss it as
an ignorant rant.

Can any on the list who are familiar with both Python and ruby comment
on the last sentence of the above?  What made you take a "second glance"
at ruby?

Regards,

-mark.