From: Damphyr <damphyr@...>
Date: 2003-07-29T03:26:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Fishing for ideas: Ruby-talk for Java coders

Ben Giddings wrote:
> On Mon July 28 2003 1:06 pm, Armin Roehrl wrote:
> 
>>I am only fishing for ideas. What would you focus on? We have 60 minutes of 
>>talking time.
>>
>>I guess we /must/ mention interoperability with Java.
> 
> 
> * The ways in which Ruby beats Java in OO design
>   + Subclassing of built-in types
>   + Everything (numbers and characters included) supports .kind_of? and stuff
> (Because Java coders like to think their language is the ultimate in OO 
> design)
....
 >
Well, I don't think going into a Java only house and saying Ruby beats 
Java in so and so many places is going to help them change their minds.
There's noone more stubborn than a coder defending his language - 
believe me, I know. Let them realise it by themselves
The key is to show the language as it is, without comparisons:
nifty things like mixins, runtime changing of code, overwriting/changing 
  of core classes, the ease of creating iterators, blocks and closures 
(now THAT will turn heads).
And then talk about interoperability: interoperability between 
languages, extensions, the ability to talk to Windows AND *nix, show 
some easy code to detect platforms (Hal's book has 6 lines for that).
The last part (after showing that the languages can live together ;) ) 
is showing how easy a transition from Java to Ruby can be. I believe 
that little CrossCase  utility can be shown off as a good example of a 
transition in "coding mentality". Show them they don't have to change 
the way they like to code, they only have to make their lives easier.
V.-


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