On 9/6/07, Sean Corfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 9/5/07, Michael E. Carluen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Any thoughts on Ruby and Python? > > I keep trying Ruby but I just can't enjoy it - the syntax just annoys > me (I don't like Perl or PHP either) - and Rails relies so heavily on > conventions that I find it annoying as well. I can't get all the way > through most of the tutorials without getting frustrated at how many > times I have to keep switching between an editor and the command line > and back because of all the script/generate and rake stuff.
Just an aside, since I saw Joe mention a similar frustration with the command line and Rails at one point a while back... I hardly *ever* have to switch between the editor and the command line unless I want to use the console for debugging or quick edits/tweaks (ie hooking into script/console) when I'm developing in Rails. TextMate and RadRails/Aptana (for Eclipse) definitely handle all the typical generation and rake tasks while ActiveSoftware's Komodo adds debugging support. The downside is the tutorials generally focus on lowest-common-denominator (text editor and command line) and it's hard to invest the time in an unfamiliar GUI *and* an unfamiliar language. But since there are so many CFEclipse users (many using Aptana, right?) that it just makes sense to take a look at RadRails if you're trying Rails. Its all so > incredibly clunky... Maybe it's because I really don't like code > generation... With Ruby all about "meta", code generation is hard to avoid. Your dislike of code generation would make an interesting post :) > I don't like Python much either. I can't really point at anything > about the language that bothers me but it I just get bored working > through any of the tutorials and the language just makes me yawn :( I saw negative indexes for arrays and immediately thought duh! why don't more languages have that. The Data Crunching book from the PragProgrammers made me rethink Python for glue (and of course there are a few smart folks at Google, including Guido, so figured there's got to be a good reason for using it. But I'm still not doing Django. > Programmers I respect seem to like Groovy and Grails so they're on my > list to look at. Definite +1 to Groovy/Grails. I started with Groovy first about 4 years ago, and then it got bogged down in JSR arguments for 2-3 years as the two lead developers feuded. Argh. But since Groovy is Java+scripting+syntax_sugar it's a great choice for CF developers since, well, ColdFusion is Java+scripting+completely_new_syntax_with_some_sugar. Since Ruby is going to basically deploy to Java for many folks through JRuby, the discussion with a client ends up with "it's a Java app" and no one cares too much about JRuby, Groovy, or CF details. > > Partly I'm a bit jaded about languages... I learned a lot of different > languages at university (I think I had just over a dozen languages > under my belt by the time I graduated in 1983) and so most of the > languages that have been created in the last ten years just don't > excite me... I don't know -- that summer class in LOGO really has paid off for me :) > As for FORTRAN (Dinner!), I love the fact that spaces are irrelevant > and you have to parse ahead an arbitrary amount to figure out what a > statement means: > > do10i=1.3 > do10i=1,3 MAKE IT STOP! Too many numerical recipes from my grad work looked like this. Nothing like learning Fortran77 for doing some quantum physics. Argh. -- John Paul Ashenfelter CTO/Transitionpoint (blog) http://www.ashenfelter.com (email) [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade to ColdFusion 8 and integrate with Adobe Flex http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=RVJP Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:287904 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
