From: Theodore Knab <tjk@...>
Date: 2004-01-29T13:29:12+09:00
Subject: Re: Project: in Ruby, Perl?

Readability and re-usability will be better with Ruby.

I lump Perl, Python, and Ruby into the same class of interpreted 
languages. However, I don't like Python because I find the 
'white space' in it too restrictive. Perl is good, but after using 
it for over two years I feel as if I find Perl a little 
frustrating. Perl is like learning a Foreign language.
Right when you think you mastered the foreign language, you find 
that there are dialects that you can not understand. PERL has too
many dialects. Languages evolve, but PERL has went through many
transformations. I feel there are too many exceptions and syntax
variations in PERL.

As for object oriented code support, I think Larry Wall added that late. 
I do not think that PERL was originally designed to be an OO programming
language. Both Ruby and Python seem to be better designed for OO coding.
Also Ruby and Python seem to work with C extensions. Perl does not last
time I used it.

As for your programmers, I feel they will get more satisfaction out of 
programming in Ruby than in PERL. If you had the money to test three
teams, the Ruby team would be the happiest and create the most reusable code, the
Python team would be happy but slower, the Perl team would create code
at the same rate as the Ruby people but only they would understand it. 

With that Perl and Python will have a large following for many years.
They are entrenched programmers. However, in near future more will learn 
Ruby for the same reasons I did. Eventually, Ruby will dominate the
OO interpreted languages until something better comes out.

On 29/01/04 12:25 +0900, Zach Dennis wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> We've got a small project coming up at work that will deal with a MySQL
> database. It will be a small scale inventory management and
> production/purchase order management system. We are trying to decide what
> language to write it in. We have ruled out Java, C, C++, anything .NET and
> Python. We have Ruby and Perl left on our list(although we may include C
> extensions).
> 
> Much of the data and transactions can be conceived to be very OO, which is
> why I picked Ruby. Another fellow on my team though feels that since Perl is
> older then Ruby and has OO ability that it is better to use because there
> are more books, documentation, etc....(in English).
> 
> The system will need to deal with different types of Queues and Threads
> since it will spawn across 2 servers and have multiple users on multiple
> workstations. It will also need to eventually interact with UPC Scanners.
> 
> Any particular reasons why or why not Ruby or Perl? We have a small list of
> pros and cons, but I thought I might get some more insightful answers here.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Zach
> 
> 

-- 
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Ted Knab
Chester, MD 21619
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