[NMLUG] Ruby

[_sarang_ at sarangworld.com (Sarang Gupta)]

Does anyone else agree w/ Kelly (w/ perhaps a little more verbosity?).  
I've poked around w/ Ruby (and it does seem neat, especially the alias,
set_var, and missing_method features), but trying to find an excuse not to
learn it.

My general feeling is that you can't become a proficient programmer if you
keep switching languages, unless there's a good reason. I switched from
awk to Perl, because Perl is *much* more powerful. I picked up a little
PHP because it's more useful for web programming (I still think embPerl
could've "become" PHP if they'd just started earlier). I like programming
in Java because it's cross-platform ("double click the JAR file to run" is
an instruction that even most Windows users can follow), and programmed in
Tcl/TK before that because it was the "only easy way" to create a GUI at
the time. There are also some programming languages I like (eg,
Mathematica) that serve special purposes.

So, my big question is: why Ruby? What "quantum leap" does Ruby have over,
say, Java and Perl? (this isn't flamebait and I *have* been reading the
thread-- but I'm not seeing why people think Ruby is so much better than
Java and Perl?).

My smaller questions:

% Is Ruby cross-platform in the sense that I can deliver an .exe or 
similar file to a Windows user?

% Ruby uses TK to create GUIs, and I'm guessing Windows doesn't ship w/
TK-- again, is there an easy way to deliver GUI-based ruby scripts to
Windows users, as(suming) Windows users are lazy and stupid?

% Can Ruby scripts be compiled for speed?

% I've written Java code that emulates some (very few) of Ruby's
features-- w/ a little work, could Ruby's advantages be ported to Java? [I
realize there are some fundamental limitations here, but my general
thought is: could Java be made more Ruby-like?]

--
Sincerely, Sarang Gupta (_sarang_@sarangworld.com)
Backup Emails: saranghome@softhome.net, sarangorama@gmail.com

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005, kelly wrote:

> Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 13:40:59 -0600
> From: kelly <kwilson@swcp.com>
> Reply-To: New Mexico Linux Users Group Mail List <nmlug@nmlug.org>
> To: New Mexico Linux Users Group Mail List <nmlug@nmlug.org>
> Cc: Don@silver-Lynx.com
> Subject: Re: [NMLUG] Ruby
> 
> I'll side with the Perl folk.  Ruby may be cool but Perl is my atomic-chainsaw 
> of choice.
> 
> --
> Kelly
> 
> 
> 
> havoc wrote:
> > Don Wilde wrote:
> > 
> >>Have been doing some good work with Ruby these days. Anybody else out
> >>there as impressed as I am? I just bought a book about Rails and
> >>haven't started it, but the core Ruby language is so much clearer than
> >>Perl that in a comparison I'd have to call Perl a has-been except for
> >>CPAN. Thoughts?
> > 
> > 
> > HERETIC! Get a rope!
> > 
> > ....
> > 
> > or not.
> > 
> > I've only glance casually at Ruby. I treat it like I've treated PHP --
> > flavor of the day. I always go back to one scoop of chocolate chip, one
> > scoop mint-chocolate chip, in a cup. Perl does that.
> > 
> > Maybe I'm a Luddite?
> > 
> > jody
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