From: Sean O'Dell <sean@...>
Date: 2003-11-20T10:52:42+09:00
Subject: Re: "stereotyping" (was: Re: Strong Typing (Re: Managing metadata about attribute types) )

On Wednesday 19 November 2003 05:40 pm, Simon Kitching wrote:
>
> Well, I'm a senior developer/team leader. I have been considering moving
> the team from "c" to ruby. However I have doubts that the lower-level
> programmers can handle development without any type-checking support. So
> we will probably move to either Java or c#.
>
> That doesn't mean I don't like Ruby - personally, I love it.

That's my experience.  I love Ruby, but I just don't see a large team working 
together without at least SOME form of type checking.

> However I have noticed that I need to "read the source" far more often
> than with Java libraries, and correctly interpreting the source requires
> experience.

Thank you, that was my point.  It's far easier to read the method definition 
and see the types than to dig around in code.  Good for smallish projects, 
not efficient nor safe for large team projects.

> I would love to do a comparative experiment myself; one team with Java
> and one with Ruby. Just not sure the boss would fund it :-)

This was my point, too.  At least with some type checking you could show that 
Ruby would be at least as safe as Java, but with all the freedom of Ruby.  
It's a win-win.  Hard to argue against.

	Sean O'Dell