Ruby Impressions

[Luigi Ballabio]

At 08:28 AM 1/11/02 +0000, Phil Tomson wrote:
> >C++ & Java guru Bruce Eckel has done a Python/Ruby compairison. You can read
> >it at http://www.mindview.net/Etc/FAQ.html#Ruby
>
>Eckel says:
>
>"So far I keep coming to the conclusion that
>Ruby is just a bad ripoff of Python"

If I were to try and reproduce idiomatic Italian expressions in English by 
translating word by word, I would naturally come to the conclusion that 
English is a bad ripoff of Italian (which might be partly true if one takes 
Latin into account, but I won't enter into that---I don't have a 
flame-proof jacket nearby :)

The same would happen if Bruce tried to write Ruby programs in a Pythonic way.
He would be uncomfortable and less productive---of course. Python is a 
better language for writing Pythonic idioms. As far as I recognize them, 
Ruby idioms took from Perl and Smalltalk instead. Apples and oranges come 
to mind :)

Mostly-a-matter-of-taste-in-my-opinion-ly yours,
                                                         Luigi