[ruby-talk:7932] Re: Ruby on .NET? A Perl Experience

Dave Thomas wrote:

# Slashdot just referenced the following note from Nathan Torkington
# about .NET (http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/12/net.html?wwwrrr_rss) which
# in turn references a project at ActiveState which has an experimental
# compiler already running 
(http://www.activestate.com/Products/NET/Perl.html).
# 
# It works, but there are issues. An extract from the page reads:
<...> 
# So, stuff to think about. .NET compatibility may get to be a big deal, 
# and Ruby might get hurt without it. At the same time, it doesn't sound 
# like an ideal environment for a dynamic language.

Well, it seems that Nathan's most interesting points were it's still
early (there is still non-zero vaporeware potential) and the important
role of SOAP. We can clean up on SOAP without a .Net, right? (Sorry
for the irrepunsible humor.)

Anyway, I think it's important to watch these developments, but I
think there will be *plenty* of time to jump on the train if it really
gathers a huge following and lots of momentum--which I think will take
quite a while, even under the best of circumstances. (Unless I missed
something, it's not like a cross-platform Java.Net is going to be the
centerpiece of their strategy, which might be more worrisome in terms
of a rapid takeoff.) AFAIK, the all-important libraries are not going
to be open sourced or publically/independently standardized, which
AFAIK may give many (but of course, by no means all, and maybe not
even the majority of) big IT managers serious reservations. On the
other hand, it will be interesting to see what happens for support of
Microsoft .Net products on the new MacOS/BSD Unix. If .Net really
takes off big time, maybe Sun would do the presently unthinkable, like
allowing binary-level linking to Java libraries. (I don't know if
that is technically feasible.)

In any case, I think we have *plenty* of time to wait and watch as
others iron out the rough edges and plumb the pitfalls prior to the
anticipated actual materialization of a mass market for .Net stuff.

Meanwhile, what do others think about SOAP?

Conrad Schneiker
(This note is unofficial and subject to improvement without notice.)