On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 11:52 AM, Phillip Gawlowski <cmdjackryan / googlemail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 11:23 AM, Everett L Williams II > <rett / classicnet.net> wrote: >> >> *And, of course, since we were talking about making a practical decision >> about which tool to use, performance cannot possibly matter. There is also >> this overriding compulsion amongst coders to produce the most abbreviated >> code possible, assuming that such demonstrates their special skills and that >> such code is the most desirable. Any study of algorithmic efficiency will >> show clearly that the shortest code is almost never the fastest code, >> especially in unoptimized code.* I'm not sure how you want to prove that given that the number of algorithms is potentially unlimited, but anyway: the discussion has digressed so far from the original topic that I don't find it useful to dive further. I also wonder what you are trying to accomplish by suggesting that most people here strive for shortest code over fast or even correct code. I don't think this is the case - at all. >> About 50% of the real newbies to programming who come on this site with a >> complex project that requires unstable parts of the Ruby pantheon, should be >> told to use another tool, one that is simpler, more mature, and that does a >> better job of handholding, but people who spend most of their time on Ruby >> tend to think with their hammer, so to speak, or maybe, they don't really >> know anything else. > > Take a look at the archives of ruby-talk, then. You'll be surprised. I disagree as well. Everett, you'll find plenty of postings - suggesting a different tool, - showing that the poster is fluent in at other languages. in here. In fact, discussions comparing features of Ruby with other programming languages' features (boy, did I get the plural right?) and how one or the other can be better utilized to solve a given problem are among the most interesting and insightful ones. Cheers robert -- remember.guy do |as, often| as.you_can - without end http://blog.rubybestpractices.com/