"Dat Nguyen" <thucdat / hotmail.com> writes:

> Observe the attitude of Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. He
> wants to win gloriously, such that at a time when he could conclude
> the race easily when his principle rival german Jan Ulrich crahsed,
> Lance even waited for Jan to get back and did not take advantage of
> the situation.  Without Jan, not many people are going to watch
> Lance biking alone to Paris.  Lance is a great sportman and a clever
> businessman too.

Nice post!

To be honest, this whole thread has me feeling somewhat guilty, as I
wrote the original "Ruby will overtake Python" line.

So, let me clear my conscience by stating my position:

1. Ruby is not better than Python or Perl. Perl is not better than
   Ruby or Python. Python is not better than Ruby or Perl. `<=>' is
   not defined for class Language.

2. In some areas, the presence of certain libraries or existing
   applications would strongly suggest writing an application in a
   particular language. That's why RubyGarden currently uses ThatWare,
   a Perl program. I saw no reason to reinvent that articular wheel.

3. However, all things being equal, I much, much prefer writing in
   Ruby.

For me, Ruby has what the patterns people call a Quality Without a
Name: that kind of inner smile you get when coding. This is totally
personal: Ruby suits the way I think, and the way I like to code. The
path between idea and code is short, and once written the code
expresses the ideas clearly. I like Ruby. I know that at least some
other people feel the same way.

However, this is a question of personal preference, not any kind of
absolute judgment. Many people feel the same way about Python, or Perl
(or even, Lord help them, Java and VB). I don't see much point in
trying to compare languages based on this: there's little shared frame
of reference on which to base the comparison.

So, when I predicted that Ruby would overtake Python, was I being
inconsistent? Possibly a little. But I _do_ think that it is very
possible that Ruby may end up with a larger user base than
Python. That opinion is based purely on a sense of growth in the
community (combined with a wish for Ruby to do well). I said it in
part to add a little controversy to an interview. And I'd probably say
it again. In saying it, I'm not putting Python down. It's a fine
language, with a tight community. I think Python wil continue to grow,
and I doubt Ruby will steal a significant percentage of existing
Python programmers. What I _am_ predicting is that Ruby will attract a
lot of other developers who find in it something attractive: some
nameless quality that makes them smile too.

And that's what it's all about.


Dave