Best answer yet...

[Guest]

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_ I was poking around and came across this in the REXX FAQ.

Is REXX better than ?

Short answer: Yes. No. Maybe. Does it matter?

Long answer: This question wastes a lot of bandwidth in
comp.lang.rexx and other newsgroups. Every language has its good
points and its bad points. Some people love REXX, some people
hate it. Use a language that suits your needs.

s/REXX/Ruby/g ( or python, java, forth, Ocaml, fortran, cobol.... )

_ I think we should ask everyone that shows up with
the Ruby vs. Foo question what their needs are and
if they can't answer that then the question should
be ignored. In general responding to the ruby vs foo
questions is a huge waste of time, nobody has ever
changed their mind as a result of these discussions.
The only reason to ask it is to confirm a decision
already made. Feeding any kind of energy, even just
asking people to stop talking about it, into these
discussions is pointless. Frankly, if somebody's used
Ruby for a day and it's not glaringly obvious to them
why it's better, then it's probably never going to
be better for them and no amount of discussion is
going to convince them.

_ Booker C. Bense

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[Ben Giddings]

_ I think we should ask everyone that shows up with
the Ruby vs. Foo question what their needs are and
if they can't answer that then the question should
be ignored. In general responding to the ruby vs foo

Sounds good to me. The question is similar to "Which is better, a
spatula or a chainsaw?" Unless you have some idea of what you want to
do with a tool, it's hard to say which is better.

The difficulty, of course, is that programming languages aren't simply
one-purpose-tools. C is the obvious choice for writing device drivers,
but it *could* be used for AI programming.

Ruby has a niche of things it's really good at, and others it can do,
but not as well. I think instead of just ignoring someone who doesn't
know what their needs are, it might be a bit nicer to point to a stock
answer saying:

Ruby is a general purpose programming language, and can
do many things. It is particularly good at ______ and _______.
Because it is an interpreted language, it isn't as well suited
to applications requiring high speed, such as graphics
programming, however if you're interested in that see _________.

Maybe this already exists in a FAQ somewhere, but if not, it probably
should, under a name of "Why choose Ruby?" or "What is Ruby good for?"

Ben

 

[Guest]

_ I was poking around and came across this in the REXX FAQ.

Is REXX better than ?

Short answer: Yes. No. Maybe. Does it matter?

Long answer: This question wastes a lot of bandwidth in
comp.lang.rexx and other newsgroups. Every language has its
good points and its bad points. Some people love REXX, some
people hate it. Use a language that suits your needs.

s/REXX/Ruby/g ( or python, java, forth, Ocaml, fortran,
cobol.... )

_ I think we should ask everyone that shows up with
the Ruby vs. Foo question what their needs are and
if they can't answer that then the question should
be ignored. In general responding to the ruby vs foo
questions is a huge waste of time, nobody has ever
changed their mind as a result of these discussions.

Untrue -- I did!

The only reason to ask it is to confirm a decision
already made. Feeding any kind of energy, even just

Again -- untrue.

asking people to stop talking about it, into these
discussions is pointless. Frankly, if somebody's used
Ruby for a day and it's not glaringly obvious to them
why it's better, then it's probably never going to
be better for them and no amount of discussion is
going to convince them.

Pardon me for asking people to share of their knowledge. I
thought that's what discussion forums were for -- silly me.

_ Booker C. Bense

Terry