Comments on: Need a bike in Paris?

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:46:52 +0000

Hey, for arguing with your Python friends, you might want to read this very details comparison of Ruby and Python: http://blog.ianbicking.org/ruby-python-power.html

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:33:39 +0000

Cool. I can’t dig into it right now, but maybe later this week. I’d love to be able to argue with all my Python friends (who are a bit too rabid for my taste about a lot of things).

Hey, just saw this link on Slashdot today. Might be fun to play with, too.

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:16:44 +0000

Hmm. Intuitive. I’d say that Ruby on Rails is intuitive if you’re thinking in terms of MVC (model-view-controller, a design pattern first popularized in Smalltalk environments of the early 80s). MVC is one of those things that makes great sense, and I’ve done things that borrow from it at various times, but RoR all but enforces it: you absolutely positively must think in those terms. If you do, it’s a super-productive environment.

Ruby is a pretty elegant and consistent language, a combination of Perl-style scripting (think productivity) and Smalltak-style object orientation (think flexibility — “everything’s an object”). And RoR takes full advantage of Ruby, leading to valid code that includes expressions like 30.months + 15.minutes (a perfectly valid expression in a Rails app).

Here’s the best brief tutorial I’ve seen: http://fairleads.blogspot.com/2007/12/rails-20-and-scaffolding-step-by-step.html

I’d recommend installing Instant Rails (http://instantrails.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl) and then do Sean’s tutorial at the link above. In about 15 minutes you’ll have a hands-on opinion. And besides, I need somebody to help me stagger through the learning curve. Safety in numbers, you know.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:59:34 +0000

Don’t know a lot about Ruby on Rails, but I’ve done some stuff in Python. The two are, as near as I can tell, compared in much the same way Windows and OS X are compared in the geek community. You know, rabidly and with little room for the other approach.

I know Python is very cool, and can only assume that Ruby on Rails is, too. Where did you do your reading about it? Or did you jump into it some other way?

One of the easiest languages I ever wrote in was Object Rexx — Rexx was originally a scripting language for the AS/400, and Object Rexx was an offshoot of that. Very conversational. It had some idiosyncrasies (its logical operators were a little funky, so going back and forth from PHP or Python to Rexx took a little mental gymnastics), but neat nonethless.

Another neat one I just learned about is Inform — it’s a result of reverse engineering the old Infocom text games (Zork, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc.). A typical snippet of code is:

The Deathbot Assembly Line is a room. “Here is the heart of the whole operation, where your opponents are assembled fresh from scrap metal and bits of old car.” The dangerous robot is a thing in the Assembly Line. “One dangerous robot looks ready to take you on!” A robotic head, a drill arm, a needle arm, a crushing leg and a kicking leg are parts of the dangerous robot.

(I hope that blockquote tag works — if not, please don’t hesitate to edit.)

But I digress. Did you find Ruby on Rails to be pretty intuitive? I’ve heard it has a steeper learning curve than Python, but it seems to me that I see them each about the same amount in job ads and curricula.