On 31 Mar 2011, at 04:43, Bryan Harrison wrote: > I've decided to use an upcoming sabbatical to teach myself OS X and iOS > programming. My background includes OS X systems administration and web > development, mostly using the Apache/MySQL/PHP model. I'm familiar with OOP > concepts and have trifled with any number of languages from C to AppleScript, > but am not fluent in any object oriented language. I've been exploring Xcode > 4 for a week and feel conversant with the IDE if not yet able to accomplish > anything with it. > > So… I understand that Cocoa is a given, but today's million dollar question > is Objective-C or MacRuby? I'm a blank slate with regard to both and so > could use some good advice. For example… > > What are the advantages of MacRuby over Objective-C? > > What are the advantage of O-C over Ruby? > > Is Xcode's support for O-C significantly better than it's handling of Ruby? > Do I care? > > At this point I'm primarily interested in OS X development, but iOS clearly > needs to run a close second. What's the current status of Ruby development > for iOS and is it likely to go anywhere in the nearish future? > > Any thoughts on the longer-term prospects of either language? > > Any thoughts from anybody will be much appreciated. > > Thanks, > Bryan > _______________________________________________ > MacRuby-devel mailing list > MacRuby-devel@lists.macosforge.org > http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/macruby-devel
I prefer Ruby because it's easier to prototype quickly. I'm also way more familiar with Ruby, but when I'm writing Objective-C, I feel like I'm battling the language. With ruby, I can just solve problems, the language part comes naturally. By the way, I only got into C/Objective-C recently. it's a work-in-progress, and could have a large part to do with it. On the plus side, if you do choose to dip into MacRuby, the APIs will map almost straight back to Objective-C Cocoa APIs, so it's not a lost cause. There is a benefit in that you'll learn Cocoa APIs, and be able to translate those back to Objective-C if/when you decide to. (The same is true if you learn Objective-C, and then MacRuby of course) I just prefer Ruby because it's obviously my language of preference, and I seem to be able to work quicker with it. Maybe you could try both languages, and see which fits better for *you*? - Rob
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