The Ruby user would think "Who puts?" :-)

Michael

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 07:42:57 +0900, Anders Engströí <aengstrom / gnejs.net> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 14, 2005 at 07:08:53AM +0900, Navindra Umanee wrote:
> > Richard Dale <Richard_Dale / tipitina.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > > I'd like to try ruby on non-programmers teaching them using why's amazing
> > > guide, to see how it works as a beginner's language. I showed some ruby
> > > code to my 45 year old lodger who has never used a computer or seen a
> > > computer program. He said "it looks like English, I thought computer
> > > programming was maths". And he is especially impressed with the cartoon
> > > foxes in Chapter 3, they have got to be the killer feature..
> >
> > Oh you think Ruby might be suitable for a total beginner?
> >
> 
> I think Ruby would be a great language for a 'total' beginner. First -
> the syntax and "wording" makes look and feel very natural IMO. Second -
> all you need is a text editor and Ruby itself - no confusing steps where
> you have to "make", "compile" or "build" anything. Just "run" your
> program (this is of course true for all scripting languages). Third -
> there is no need to introduce object oriented concepts such as classes
> and objects before the user is ready for them. Compare the standard
> Hello World example in Ruby with one in java:
> 
> Ruby:
> 
> (hello.rb)
> puts "Hello World"
> 
> $> ruby hello.rb
> 
> Java:
> 
> (Hello.java)
> public class Hello {
>     public static void main(String[] args) {
>         System.out.println("Hello World");
>     }
> }
> 
> $>javac Hello.java
> $>java Hello
> 
> The java example prints out the same stuff as the Ruby example, but the
> novice user would think: "What is a class?", "What is 'public'?", "What
> is 'static'?", "What about that 'args' stuff?", "Where did that
> Hello.class file come from, and why do I run 'java Hello' and not 'java
> Hello.class'?" etc.
> 
> //Anders
> --
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> . Anders Engströí         aengstrom / gnejs.net
> . http://www.gnejs.net    PGP-Key: ED010E7F
> . [Your mind is like an umbrella. It doesn't work unless you open it.]
> 
>