From: "ara.t.howard" <ara.t.howard@...>
Date: 2010-12-24T13:43:59+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby and science ?

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On Tuesday, December 21, 2010 1:15:32 AM UTC-7, Tim Rand wrote:
>
>
> the two are quite similar conceptually. I think it would be great if
> we had a dedicated scientific community to build the tools in ruby,
> but I don't see it happening, because python has already filled the
> niche.
> Tim


mostly true.  worth mentioning, however, is that scientific visualization is 
having a bit of a crisis, largely because of two facts:

- data is increasingly open and accessed via an api, not stored locally 
(kml, opendap/netcdf, various home spun http protocols, etc) 

- people want to interactive data that can be shared

that's why there is so much interest in svg/js/canvas libraries: one can 
access open data with open protocols and produce interactive charts that can 
be shared online using standards-ish tools (see 
http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ for and example...)

there is new work to do, however, many toolsets are, unfortunately, bound to 
to dom.  great value can be made by programming toolsets which work in 
http/svg and which use open data access standards, but which are not bound 
to a browser only runtime environment.

ruby is actually in an excellent position to fill this void.  food for 
thought.

>
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On Tuesday, December 21, 2010 1:15:32 AM UTC-7, Tim Rand wrote:<blockquote =
class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0;margin-left: 0.8ex;border-left: 1p=
x #ccc solid;padding-left: 1ex;"><br>the two are quite similar conceptually=
. I think it would be great if<br>we had a dedicated scientific community t=
o build the tools in ruby,<br>but I don't see it happening, because python =
has already filled the<br>niche.<br>Tim</blockquote><div><br></div><div>mos=
tly true. &nbsp;worth mentioning, however, is that scientific visualization=
 is having a bit of a crisis, largely because of two facts:</div><div><br><=
/div><div>- data is increasingly open and accessed via an api, not stored l=
ocally (kml, opendap/netcdf, various home spun http protocols, etc)&nbsp;</=
div><div><br></div><div>- people want to interactive data that can be share=
d</div><div><br></div><div>that's why there is so much interest in svg/js/c=
anvas libraries: one can access open data with open protocols and produce i=
nteractive charts that can be shared online using standards-ish tools (see =
http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ for and example...)</div><div><br></div><=
div>there is new work to do, however, many toolsets are, unfortunately, bou=
nd to to dom. &nbsp;great value can be made by programming toolsets which w=
ork in http/svg and which use open data access standards, but which are not=
 bound to a browser only runtime environment.</div><div><br></div><div>ruby=
 is actually in an excellent position to fill this void. &nbsp;food for tho=
ught.</div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin: 0;margin-left=
: 0.8ex;border-left: 1px #ccc solid;padding-left: 1ex;"><p></p></blockquote=
>
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