From: "Randy W. Sims" <RandyS@...>
Date: 2003-12-18T16:25:35+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie questions

On 12/18/2003 1:11 AM, Jim Frapper wrote:
>>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

I don't know. Those seem like good reasons to switch. Look at it as an 
oppotunity to provide something nice for the community. That's how perl 
got to the place it is now, and it's the only way ruby will achieve the 
same.

Regards,
Randy.