Language discussion (was Re: RE: [buug] I've been getting 2 of Everything, why? )

[Brian Sobolak]

Jason wrote:
>  Has anyone else had any experience with it, or am I
> the only ruby programmer on this list? :)

Negative.

I played with Ruby a few years ago to get a taste for it.  You're right that it's very OO, and of course the regex support is good too.  I was impressed how operating system concepts - files, sockets, directories - were represented as objects in the base implementation.

I think picking the right first language is
important.  In a similar way that English influences
how I think about the world, the first language I
learned (a proprietary 4GL, now extinct) still 
influences how I think about programming.  Not 
dominates, but influences.  And if you start with 
COBOL or Visual Basic, I think it permanently 
influences how you view the problem.

Finally, I agree with Jon - a language is just a tool.  Learn a lot of them, use them for what you need.

<rant mode="cynical">Unless it's Java.  Which of course, is a gospel and the truth and the light.</rant>
(Have I ever ranted about how I feel that the Java tools market was the single biggest waste of wealth in software history?)

brian
--
Brian Sobolak
http://www.planetshwoop.com/
sobolak at myrealbox.com