From: ptkwt@... (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2003-11-30T04:27:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby vs Python (IMHO)

In article <20031129184817.GA1426@math.umd.edu>,
Daniel Carrera  <dcarrera@math.umd.edu> wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I guess I just want to share a tiny "case study" from a project that I'm 
>doing in Python and which I wish I could do in Ruby instead.
>
>I am writing a BibTeX filter for the OpenOffice project (BibTeX is the 
>bibliographic cousin of LaTeX).  I am doing it in Python because, of the 
>languages with stable bridges to the OOo component model (UNO) Python is 
>the one I like best.

Hmmm.... so what would it take to include Ruby in the set of languages 
with 'stable bridges to the OOo component model'?

>
>My requirements are mostly related to regular expressions and string 
>methods.  This is an area where Ruby really shines and is light-years 
>ahead of the competition.
>
>Regular expressions in Ruby are infinitely eaiser and more sensible to 
>use than in Python.
>
>Ruby:
>   str =~ /^(#{char})\s*{\s*(#{char}+),(.*)}/
>
>
>Python:
>   regex = re.compile(r"^(" + char + "+)\s*{\s*(" + char + "+),(.*)}")
>   regex.match(str)
>

Ouch, that's painful.

Phil