From: Dave Aronson <rubytalk2dave@...>
Date: 2012-08-17T23:47:42+09:00
Subject: Re: case vs if-else

On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 6:24 AM, Nathan Ahmed <elihu5991@gmail.com> wrote:

> So then what is the point of ruby if it's just for
> human-readability? Isn't it all about functionality?

Ruby does indeed have excellent *functionality*, what with
block-passing, meta-programming, the mix of tools from the OO and
functional paradigms, etc.  It just doesn't have excellent *speed of
execution*.  What the legibility buys us is speed of *creation* and
*maintenance*.

Back in the olden days, CPU time was far more expensive than the
amount of programmer time needed to save that much CPU time.
(Generally speaking, that is, and obviously not for programs that had
already gone through thorough optimization.)  Nowadays, cheap
computers are so blazing fast, especially when compared to data
transmission over the Internet, that execution speed is rarely a
priority.  Now it's time-to-market, and occasionally time-to-fix or
time-to-upgrade... in other words, programmer time.  And that's where
Ruby shines.

-Dave