On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 21:06:02 +0100, Robert <bob.news / gmx.net> wrote:
> i'd like to know, what you folks say about this: is it a general matter or
> is this distinction connected to the differences between Java and Ruby?

This is a question I've been asking myself too (I am relatively new to Ruby).

At work, I contribute to a C++ project of some importance (40peoplex5years), 
and I often get irritated by the *lack* of type checking, the bold assumption 
some programmers make that they can safely downcast to some type. I
often wish we'd use contractual programming and have a language/compiler
combination that catches as much as possible at compile time. I do
believe this is the way to go for that kind of projects, and I wouldn't
recommend Ruby in that situation.

For all other programming however, I would and do use Ruby because 
it allows me to be vastly more productive since I don't have to 
'spoon-feed the compiler'. Instead I rely on Ruby's ability to *guess* what 
I _mean_. In accordance with it's principle of least surprise, it guesses 
correctly most of the time !  The drawback of course is that it/I sometimes 
makes/make mistakes that manifest in totally different parts of the code ...

So, I return the question to you: do you see/use Java as a *really*
comfortable, fuzzy language that let's you write things like you _think_
them (no superfluous compiler enlightening constructions needed) or do
you see it as a language to write huge, critical applications relying on
the interaction of a multitude of separately developed modules ?


I hope this sharing/answer helps you.

Kind regards,
Simon


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