From: Austin Ziegler <austin@...>
Date: 2003-08-29T00:24:19+09:00
Subject: Re: You know what I want?

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 23:14:49 +0900, Michael Vondung wrote:
> Kurt M. Dresner wrote:
> 
> 
>> I want a Perl CGI script that will run a Ruby CGI script.  The admins
>> of the webserver I'm trying to use tell me I can't use Ruby but I can
>> use Perl.  I don't really know much Perl.
>> 
> 
> Now, doesn't that sound familiar! I've had the very same problem just a
> week ago. The company I work for runs a virtual community ("game"). I'm
> not a coder or technical personnel, but handle community work, policy
> issues, customer service and the like. I do have access to the (Linux)
> server machine that hosts various databases, log files and such, since I
> need those in the course of my job. So after learning Ruby for some time,
> I wanted to automate some processes with the help of Ruby scripts. The
> boss said "Sure!", the sysadmin said "No.". I didn't want this to turn
> into a power struggle with my co-worker, so I tried to reason. His point
> was that he wants all scripts to be written in either bash or Perl, so
> that scripts can be maintained by multiple individuals, not only the one
> who wrote the script. He seriously expected me to learn Perl (I'd be okay
> with sh, but it's not powerful enough for some of the tasks I had in
> mind), to which I responded that he might as well learn Ruby. Bad start,
> I agree! ;) We talked for at least two hours and eventually compromised:
> He agreed to install Ruby, and in return I agreed to keep my Ruby scripts
> in my home directory so that others won't be tempted to use them. He also
> offered to eventually convert them to Perl. It's a compromise, nothing
> more, nothing less.

Chances are, when he starts to convert them to Perl, he'll become a convert 
to Ruby ...

-austin
--
austin ziegler    * austin@halostatue.ca * Toronto, ON, Canada
software designer * pragmatic programmer * 2003.08.28
                                         * 11.23.33