[ruby-talk:04350] Re: Thirty-seven Reasons [Hal Fulton] Love[s] Ruby

I like these 37 reasons!  Anyway, I agreed with almost (almost) all the reasons.....

REASON 20
20.  It uses punctuation and capitalization creatively. A method
returning a Boolean result (though Ruby doesn't call it that) is
typically ended with a question mark, and the more destructive,
data-modifying methods are named with an exclamation point. Simple,
informative, and intuitive. All constants, including class names,
start with capital letters. All object attributes start with an @
sign. This has the pragmatism of the old "Hungarian notation" without
the eye-jarring ugliness.

To me this is a DRAWBACK to Ruby - capitalization should be solely at the descretion of the user.  It is annoying to find that the error is being caused because the Ruby interpreter insists that Foo and foo are different types (yes types!).  Some languages (Eiffel and Sather I think) require all sorts of funny capitalization requirements, which were an instant turn-off for me.  Either foo and Foo should be identical (case-insensitivity) or foo and Foo should be separate (case sensitivity) but variable type, class, or other indicator should NOT be based on capitalization.

Let me get off my soapbox now - my apologies for ranting so.

REASON 21
21.  Reserved words aren't. It's perfectly allowable to use an
identifier that is a so-called "reserved word" as long as the parser
doesn't perceive an amibiguity. This is a breath of fresh air.

It is?  I don't think anyone should use reserved words as normal variables.  A compiler or interpreter writer should almost disallow reserved words as a matter of principle - though in extreme conditions, it might be useful to use them.

REASON 29
29.  It can be used interactively. Conceivably it could be used as a
sort of "Kornshell squared."

Oh, really?  I don't know..... ksh can do a LOT.  And what about scsh (Scheme Shell)?  Another language for me to learn :-)