Asp Forum - A concise description of Ruby?

Curt Hibbs

10/20/2004 12:48:00 PM

Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new pickaxe II
book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"

Unfortunately, I really blew the opportunity as I attempted to come up with
a brilliant one or two sentence description. The best I could muster was
something like, "Uhh... err... it's kind of like perl or python but much
better." How lame is that!

To avoid this in the future, I would a like to have a stock reply ready to
go. A few short sentences that clearly crystallize what Ruby is and why the
asker should care. Once I make it past this introduction (in situations
where there is time and its appropriate) I can talk endlessly in-depth about
Ruby. But I want to be able to make that good first impression without
tripping all over myself... An impression good enough to make them want to
know more.

So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the question
"What is Ruby"?

Thanks,
Curt

PS
I'll collect the responses and post them on the WhyRuby? site
(http://whyruby.rub...).

89 Answers

Richard Lyman

10/20/2004 1:44:00 PM

I tell coworkers - "It's the language that'll let you like programming again."

-RIch

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:47:47 +0900, Curt Hibbs <curt@hibbs.com> wrote:
> Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new pickaxe II
> book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"
>
> Unfortunately, I really blew the opportunity as I attempted to come up with
> a brilliant one or two sentence description. The best I could muster was
> something like, "Uhh... err... it's kind of like perl or python but much
> better." How lame is that!
>
> To avoid this in the future, I would a like to have a stock reply ready to
> go. A few short sentences that clearly crystallize what Ruby is and why the
> asker should care. Once I make it past this introduction (in situations
> where there is time and its appropriate) I can talk endlessly in-depth about
> Ruby. But I want to be able to make that good first impression without
> tripping all over myself... An impression good enough to make them want to
> know more.
>
> So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the question
> "What is Ruby"?
>
> Thanks,
> Curt
>
> PS
> I'll collect the responses and post them on the WhyRuby? site
> (http://whyruby.rub...).
>
>

Florian Gross

10/20/2004 1:46:00 PM

Curt Hibbs wrote:

> Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new pickaxe II
> book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"
>
> Unfortunately, I really blew the opportunity as I attempted to come up with
> a brilliant one or two sentence description. The best I could muster was
> something like, "Uhh... err... it's kind of like perl or python but much
> better." How lame is that!
>
> To avoid this in the future, I would a like to have a stock reply ready to
> go. A few short sentences that clearly crystallize what Ruby is and why the
> asker should care. Once I make it past this introduction (in situations
> where there is time and its appropriate) I can talk endlessly in-depth about
> Ruby. But I want to be able to make that good first impression without
> tripping all over myself... An impression good enough to make them want to
> know more.
>
> So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the question
> "What is Ruby"?

Ruby is a language where code is used to make Objects communicate. This
gives you all the benefits of clearly defined components and the power
to change the messages Objects respond to and communicate by themselves.

You can also jump into your Object environment and start talking to
Objects. This makes debugging surprisingly simple and other things possible.

> Thanks,
> Curt

Hope this helps any, but I think there will be better definitions than mine.

Regards,
Florian Gross

gabriele renzi

10/20/2004 2:00:00 PM

Curt Hibbs ha scritto:
> Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new pickaxe II
> book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"
>

it's an OO dynamic language with simple syntax. It is fun oriented.
I love ruby.

(remember that in the "I love #$somelanguage" google battles ruby always
win, spread the meme ;)

Charles Mills

10/20/2004 2:10:00 PM

On Oct 20, 2004, at 7:04 AM, gabriele renzi wrote:

> Curt Hibbs ha scritto:
>> Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new
>> pickaxe II
>> book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"
>
> it's an OO dynamic language with simple syntax. It is fun oriented.
> I love ruby.
>
> (remember that in the "I love #$somelanguage" google battles ruby
> always win, spread the meme ;)
>

Ruby: The powerful and dynamic object-oriented language which "makes
programming fun again".

The first part of that description is taken from and article by Matz
and the second part is taken from an article by Dave Thomas. So,
basically I didn't come up with any of it.

-Charlie

T. Onoma

10/20/2004 2:16:00 PM

I knew that one day someone would ask ;)

http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?...

The link to Wikipedia entry at the end is good too.

T.

P.S. This is a rip from Hal (thanks Hal!) but if anyone would like to work on
it then please do!

On Wednesday 20 October 2004 08:47 am, Curt Hibbs wrote:
| Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new pickaxe
| II book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"
|
| Unfortunately, I really blew the opportunity as I attempted to come up with
| a brilliant one or two sentence description. The best I could muster was
| something like, "Uhh... err... it's kind of like perl or python but much
| better." How lame is that!
|
| To avoid this in the future, I would a like to have a stock reply ready to
| go. A few short sentences that clearly crystallize what Ruby is and why the
| asker should care. Once I make it past this introduction (in situations
| where there is time and its appropriate) I can talk endlessly in-depth
| about Ruby. But I want to be able to make that good first impression
| without tripping all over myself... An impression good enough to make them
| want to know more.
|
| So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the question
| "What is Ruby"?
|
| Thanks,
| Curt
|
| PS
| I'll collect the responses and post them on the WhyRuby? site
| (http://whyruby.rub...).

James Gray

10/20/2004 2:53:00 PM

On Oct 20, 2004, at 7:47 AM, Curt Hibbs wrote:

> Yesterday, a co-worker came into my office and saw the shiny, new
> pickaxe II book on my desk and said "What is Ruby?"

Ruby is a very object oriented language with a super clean syntax that
makes programming elegant and enjoyable.

James Edward Gray II

Hal E. Fulton

10/20/2004 2:54:00 PM

trans. (T. Onoma) wrote:
> I knew that one day someone would ask ;)
>
> http://www.rubygarden.org/ruby?...
>
> The link to Wikipedia entry at the end is good too.
>
> T.
>
> P.S. This is a rip from Hal (thanks Hal!) but if anyone would like to work on
> it then please do!

Actually, you can just attribute the comp.lang.ruby FAQ -- I maintain
it now, but the above fragment was written by Conrad Schneiker.

Or attribute him if you wish, but he doesn't hang out here any more.

Hal

Mike Clark

10/20/2004 3:16:00 PM

> So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the
> question
> "What is Ruby"?

"Ruby? Oh, you won't like this language. (Slides Pixaxe II out of
view.) It's entirely too fun and productive for most people."

:-)

Mike

Edwin Eyan Moragas

10/20/2004 3:29:00 PM

>
> "Ruby? Oh, you won't like this language. (Slides Pixaxe II out of
> view.) It's entirely too fun and productive for most people."

there's 'oomph!' in this one.

nice one mike.

--
edwin eyan moragas

ha... a... k... tu!

Jan Krüger

10/20/2004 3:31:00 PM

Curt Hibbs wrote:
> So, I wanted to ask all of you, what would your answer be to the question
> "What is Ruby"?

Ruby is the programming language that makes you have more time for
your girlfriend .. or less, if you fall in love with ruby instead.

Jan

comp.lang.ruby

A concise description of Ruby?