[ruby-talk:9435] Re: 101 Misconceptions About Dynamic Languages

A most excellent post Stephen.

> There's no point arguing about what each language can do and how each
> language implements its features. Languages are like meta-quines. It's
> possible to write a C++ compiler in Ruby, and it's possible to write a
> Ruby interpreter in C++. This is sufficient to demonstrate that any
> powerful feature named in one language can be replicated in the other,
> including speed.

Well put. When you say it 'is sufficient to demonstrate' -- what are you
attempting to demonstrate? The fundamenatal equivalency of all languages?
That is a given.

I am more interested in the unification of the various types of virtual
machines used by those languages. I want interoperability between all
virtual machines (the C machine, the C++ machine, the VisualBasic machine,
the Python machine, etcetera), across process, operating system, and machine
boundaries. This is why .NET interests me so much, and why I openly wondered
about the difference between 'interpreted' and 'compiled'.

> Languages are like vehicles. [snip wonderful analogy]

> But while my walking self is niftily zapping around corners, my bike
> riding self is exploring that outback country town, and my car driving
> self is covering the vast distances beyond.

To use your analogy, I am more interested in the environment than the
various means used to move around in it, be they walk, bike, car, coach,
train or plane.

If you are a carpenter, you really do need a good, solid hammer. It is silly
to have a wide assortment of radically different 'hammers' if all you need
to do is to drive a nail.

What difference if a solution to a problem (how big or small) "takes more
lines of code" than another solution in a different language? Clearly this
is meaningless. A better metric is "how many problems (how big or small)
have you solved in the past six months"?. Will the work you did stand the
test of time? If instead you are frustrated at an inability to express
yourself, then you should trade in the beige Volvo and buy a shiny new red
Kawasaki.

> Try something different. It doesn't have to be that hard.

True enough.

Christian.