From: Sean O'Dell <sean@...>
Date: 2002-05-14T04:08:18+09:00
Subject: Re: What is  Ruby for?

I still use C++ in most places and probably always will, but Ruby offers 
a couple things I just can't get with C++.  Mainly: very quick, 
on-the-fly development to perform tasks where speed and efficiency of 
the final application is of little concern.  Mainly system 
administration stuff, but also for lightweight tasks like dynamic web 
pages, etc.  Being able to copy a script to another machine and run it, 
and being able to edit it quickly with a text editor to make up for 
something that's different on that machine is something I just can't get 
with C++.  You can do a lot of cool stuff like write web servers and 
things...but I have no trouble doing that stuff in C++ and I'm not a big 
fan of throwing away system resources.

For anything heavier, I would say that C++ is still the way to go.  A 
lot of people here don't like it...I've had tremendous success with C++ 
personally.  *shrug*

Just so you know where I'm coming from: I don't even understand why 
anyone uses Java.  So, bear that in mind when taking my opinion into 
account.  =)

Ruby is a fantastic development tool for certain things, mostly where 
Perl was good.  I would extend its use to that of web development as a 
replacement for PHP, and that's exactly where I'm headed with it, 
although I haven't proven its worthiness in that department to myself 
yet; got some other things on my plate right now (Ruby-related).

	Sean

Steve Merrick wrote:

> Or even 'Why <insert scripting language of your choice>'? I know it's me
> that's ignorant. I'm hoping this forum can change that! ;-) Allowing for
> my background in C++/C/Assembler/Pascal/Fortran..., can you help me to
> understand what languages like Ruby are for?
> 
> Surely they're not just better versions of the 'language' used for
> writing MSDOS batch files? [No offence intended. ;-)] I know what to use
> C++ for, but I can't visualise a situation where I would look at the
> design problem and think 'No, not C++ - Ruby is what I should use here.'
> 
> I've tried to learn Ruby, and made some very basic progress, but I'm
> stuck in a mental rut. I can't think of what to use it for, so I can't
> see the point in learning any more about it. Help!! :-)
> 
> --
> Steve Merrick
> 
> "Who cares, wins"
> 
> 
>