Austin Ziegler
12/21/2005 2:31:00 PM
On 20/12/05, Phil Tomson <ptkwt@aracnet.com> wrote:
> In article <9e7db9110512201553t1355cb4ah@mail.gmail.com>,
> Austin Ziegler <halostatue@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Mr Eckel is not merely asking the question. He is asking the question
>> in perhaps as hostile a way as he can without saying that Rubyists
>> are poopyheads.
>>
>> Frankly, I don't *want* Mr Eckel to become a Ruby programmer (and say
>> so on the blog entry I linked to earlier); he's likely to find all
>> sorts of "flaws" that are in fact features that I *love* about Ruby.
>> Similarly, a lot of the "features" he finds in Python I consider
>> flaws. He won't be happy in Ruby, so he shouldn't use it.
> Oh, now that's going a bit over the top don't you think? I would
> think that we should actually encourage Mr. Eckel to try out Ruby. We
> should welcome him to instead of hanging out a sign that says "No
> Eckel's allowed!". After all, we're the friendly language newsgroup.
> If Mr. Eckel comes here with questions I would hope that we would
> welcome him and answer them courteously (and no "see I told you so"
> type responses either).
>
> Better to win friends than to make enemies.
Phil, I think you're misreading what I wrote. If I thought that Mr Eckel
would use and like Ruby, I'd want him in our camp. But based on reading
a *lot* of his railing against Ruby in the time that I've been a
Rubyist, Ruby would make him very unhappy as a developer.
We don't need -- or want -- people who use Ruby because they have to. We
want people who use Ruby because it truly makes them happy. I've known
some developers who are happier than pigs in shit when they're
programming in C or C++. Ruby would make them very unhappy.
Why, exactly, should we encourage them to use Ruby? I'm not wanting to
make Ruby an exclusive club. I'm wanting people to find the same joy
that I find in Ruby; if they're not going to find it *in* Ruby, they
should find it in a language that makes them happier.
-austin
--
Austin Ziegler * halostatue@gmail.com
* Alternate: austin@halostatue.ca