What's better about Ruby than Python?

[Jacek Generowicz]

"Andrew Dalke" <adalke at mindspring.com> writes:

> Ndiya kulala.   -- I am going for the purpose of sleeping.
> 
> And here's an example of Swedish with a translation into
> English, which lack some of the geneaological terms
> 
> min mormor  -- my maternal grandmother
> 
> I can combine those and say
> 
> Umormor uya kulala -- my maternal grandmother is going
>                   for the purpose of sleeping.
> 
> See how much more precise that is because I can select
> words from different Dialects of Speech?

You are absolutely right. "Umormor uya kulala" is less readable than
"My maternal grandmother is going for the purpose of sleeping", to
someone who is familiar with English, but unfamiliar with Xhosa and
Swedish.

Now explain the Mor/Far concept and the "going for a purpouse"
concept" to said English speaker, and present him with text it which
combinations of the concepts are user repeatedly.

_Now_ ask yourself which is more readable.

For this reason it is rarely a good idea to define a macro for a
single use. However, it becomes an excellent idea if the idea the
macro expresses must be expressed repeatedly. The same is true of
functions, classes, modules ...