Pat Maddox
4/16/2005 8:55:00 PM
On 4/16/05, Jim Freeze <jim@freeze.org> wrote:
> * Pat Maddox <pergesu@gmail.com> [2005-04-17 05:21:52 +0900]:
>
> > Ruby's a nice language, but I think it's particularly well suited for
> ---------------------------------
> > web development. I can't say I see anything wrong with the direction
> ---------------
>
> I've seen others make this same comment. I find it interesting
> that at RubyConf 2001 (the first Ruby conference) I heard multiple
> times that Ruby was not ready for web development.
That was four years ago. Certainly things can change enough in that
time to make Ruby a serious consideration for web development.
> I know rails is new, but I'm not sure that the language has made
> any significant changes to justify such an about face in opinion.
Languages don't need to make significant changes to gain usefulness.
Language maturity comes with the development of new libraries and
frameworks, and it's these libraries and frameworks that add value to
the language itself, and further the popularity. And as a language
becomes more popular, new libs and frameworks get developed, and it
goes around and around until everyone loves it :)
That's what Rails has done in the area of web development. Ruby
itself isn't well-suited for web development - the fact that there's a
very nice framework for web apps adds that value. We all know that
you can write web apps in any language. There's just no point when
other languages provide effective mechanisms for doing so.
> However, I think it is a lesson in how people can take
> their own opinion (or a common opinion) and believe in it as fact.
My opinion comes from writing web applications for 7 years now, using
C and Perl CGIs, PHP, Java, and ASP. Again, the usefulness of each
language increases with the emergence of development frameworks, and I
find that Rails is by far the simplest and most effective. That is,
however, just my opinion.
> Rails has opened the eyes of to many to what they could not see.
> David and his RubyOnRails is to Ruby what Michaelangelo and
> Michaelangelo's David are to a large of stone.
>
> The only difference is that Ruby has more value than a large rock. :)
>
> It is also clear that some people just see the statue.
> But me, I see the process. I am waiting to see what gets
> created when another Michaelangelo comes along and finds Ruby.
I have no doubt that more people will come along and add value to
Ruby. It really is a nice language, and I think we'll see that people
will want to incorporate it into other areas of development. As that
happens, new frameworks will be developed, and we'll see it increase
in popularity in areas besides the web.