From: jfrapper@... (Jim Frapper)
Date: 2003-12-18T15:11:55+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie questions

> Good documentation is part of what makes a language great.  Not just the 
> language itself.  I would also point out the availability of mature 
> modules as well as the ability to find them easily.  I do think that 
> some of the greatest things about Perl are CPAN and its documentation.
> 
> Those two things can some times be enough to offset the technical merit 
> of a younger language.
> 
> Besides, even as "just a language", Perl does rock.  Even if Ruby is a 
> better language than Perl, that doesn't make Perl bad.
> 
> I do think that the biggest things holding Ruby back (IMHO) are 
> documentation and availability of mature modules.

I couldn't agree more.  

Wow, I see my simple questions have started quite a long thread.  I
started looking at Ruby because of a book I am reading "Code
Generation In Action".  Most people on this list know all about the
ruby "goodness" (object oriented goodness, clean syntax, simple yet
powerful, yield, etc...).

After taking a pretty good look, I am going to state why I will not
switch to Ruby for my scripting/programming tasks (at least not yet!).

- Good documentation
- Good documentation reader
- Repository of mature modules
- Repository that can be access from the command line and execute
various actions (search, install, etc...)
- Unit testing built into a standard build/install process.
- A standard way to package up a module with docs/code/tests include
- The ability to overload constructors.

Besides that, I am enjoying using the language while going through the
book referenced above.

Cheers,
JF