ptkwt / shell1.aracnet.com wrote:
>Managment is understandably suspicious of using Ruby - they've never heard 
>of it before and they don't know if it is stable.  They say there is no 
>in-house Ruby expertise (actually only myself and one other programmer 
>would be working on the system and I don't think it would be difficult to 
>transition from Perl to Ruby for either of us).

Try to find out what the *real* objections are, 
which may or may not be the stated objections. 
They might be helped by seeing the pickaxe book 
in person, or by reading the interview(s?) with 
Larry Wall that mention Ruby, or by seeing that 
Ruby will be represented at an upcoming industry 
conference, or by the articles in recent 
magazines, etc.

Stability should be addressable. I've used Ruby 
to write two GUI applications (email: 1kloc, 
strategy board game: 3kloc). The highly-respected 
Pragmatic Programmers are using it in their 
professional practice. 

In-house expertise shouldn't be a showstopper. 
Surely at some point they'll want to take on 
something that they've never used before. Ruby is 
similar enough to Perl that the transition should 
be pretty easy. Does management have a general 
opposition to trying new things? 

There may be some psychology going on behind the 
scenes. Maybe someone is addicted to Perl. Or 
maybe a manager knows Perl but is afraid to learn 
anything new and doesn't want to be left out. 

Ask gentle questions to discover the *real* 
objections.

Kevin