Thanks!

On 6/3/05, Ben Giddings <bg-rubytalk / infofiend.com> wrote:
> On Friday 03 June 2005 16:33, Joe Van Dyk wrote:
> > 1)  Why one additional language isn't a bad thing
> 
> "We don't need a Philips screwdriver, we already have a flathead".

Good point.  :-)

> 
> More tools can be a better thing (until your toolbelt gets so heavy that it
> pulls your pants down and starts showing butt-crack).
> 
> > 2)  Examples of existing Ruby usages in large scale applications
> 
> http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?RealWorldRuby
> 
> I think the NASA and NOAA stuff are some of the best sources for real
> world, large-scale stuff.  I'm sure Ara will tell you more about what he's
> doing.
> 
> You might also want to mention Rails, and some of the e-commerce sites (and
> other stuff) it powers.  Perl, Python and PHP could all do something
> similar... but as yet haven't.

I was thinking that.  It's completely a different field of work than
what we do though.

> 
> > 3)  How Ruby can benefit this place
> 
> It can begin to replace Perl.  It can also make employees happier.  :)
> 
> > Off the top of my head:
> >
> > 1)  C extensions allow us to easily integrate with external existing
> > software, but I don't know how Perl or Python does in that respect.
> 
> Both can do it, but from what I hear Ruby's C interface is cleaner and
> easier to use.

Does Perl or Python have DL import functionality?

> 
> > 2) Built-in support for unit testing.
> 
> Python and Perl have this too, nothing too special here.  Ruby's unit-test
> framework may be better in some ways, I wouldn't know.
> 
> > 3)  Extendability / maintainability, but I can't think of anything
> > objective to say here
> 
> Well comparing OO Perl to OO Ruby you'll have a huge win here in terms of
> maintainability.  If people are already comfortable with Perl then it
> might be a hard sell, but I think it's easier to convert someone who isn't
> a Pearl zealot from Perl to Ruby than it is from Python to Ruby.
> 
> Aside from the ones you came up with, maybe Ruby's license is better for
> your business?  I don't know.

I don't know anything about licenses, but this is a very good point. 
Are there any functional differences between the three languages'
licenses?

> 
> Also, is there any Ruby library that you really like that doesn't have a
> good Perl/Python equivalent?
> 
> Do you have any idea how Python got accepted, and when?  Surely the
> programming languages in use at that time could do everything Python could
> do, though perhaps not as easily.

No idea yet.

> 
> Good luck!  It sounds like you'll need it.
> 
> Ben
> 
> P.S. Java is a "full programming language" but Python/Perl/Ruby are only
> "Dynamic/Scripting" languages?

Yeah, I dunno about that... :-)