From: Jim Freeze <jim@...>
Date: 2002-09-11T12:03:14+09:00
Subject: Re: call for commentary: review of Ruby for a magazine (long, sorry!)

On Wed, Sep 11, 2002 at 06:33:21AM +0900, Rick Wayne wrote:
> hello again folks,
> 
> 1) is ruby just a "toy" language? OK, OK, don't all shout at once -- but
> who's using it for medium-to-large projects, 10K SLOC and up?
> 
Hmm, if I have 10 2-3K projects that interact, is that 20-30K of code?
3-6K.

> 2) how does the language fare compared to other ones?  do you have
> comparative-productivity numbers you'd be willing to share, vis-a-vis C
> (to be brutal) or Perl (to be a little fairer) or Python?
> 
About 1/3 SLOC than C++.
Speed is mostly a non issue.

> 3) in your experience, how has the language's novelty affected its
> stability? for comparision, recall the early days of java, and how the
> evolution of the class library made "deprecated" a word that...well,
> let's just say "sounds like something scatalogical" and leave it at
> that, eh?
> 
Seems stable to me. Maybe has affected its acceptance.

> 4) where do you use Ruby? headless cruncher programs on servers? as Web
> application glue? GUI end-user programs? fast one-off scripty things?
> 
Processing numerical data generating plots and images.
Automation internal business process.

> 5) what's your favorite flavor of GUI for Ruby apps? how does using it
> compare with other UI class libraries you've tried (e.g., Swing, MFC,
> OWL, Qt, whatever)?
> 
Haven't needed one, but will probably look closely at Fox because
of platform portability and look and feel consistency.

> 6) what development tools do you use all the time for Ruby development?
> 
vim, gvim, irb, ri.

> 7) is Ruby just one of the arrows in your programming quiver, or have
> you made the leap and left other languages behind? if he former, is Ruby
> often your first choice for green-field development?
> 
Personally for me it is my first choice, but I am not writing commercial software.

> 8) open-ended essay: what drew you to Ruby? what keeps you working with
> it? what bugs you about it?
> 
Naturalness (read, limited punctuation) of syntax without trying to be 
a wordy natural language.

Easy to read, fun to use.

As fast a Perl

Easy to maintain

Scalable

Easy to read, fun to use.

irb, ri, irb, and did I mention, irb?

Easy to read, fun to use.

> note that in order to quote you, i will need a real name, address, and
> contact info. if you so request, i will not reveal that information, but

You have my email if you need to contact me.


-- 
Jim Freeze
----------
Programming Ruby 
 def initialize; fun; end
A language with class