Should I Care If You Use Ruby (or Any Other Language For That Matter)? 9
It seems like every time I post something bad about a programming language, or compare one language (A) to another (B), at least one commenter lets me know that they like language B better, and furthermore, some aspect of my post has convinced them that language A is so bad that they won't even try it anymore.
The thing is, I don't care.
I'm not a consultant anymore. I'm not trying to sell you anything (unless you need drug discovery software). I'm no longer actively involved in open source community. If you don't want to ever try Ruby (or Smalltalk, or Python, or whatever) it really doesn't matter to me.
When I point out something about a language, I'm just doing it because I genuinely think that it is better than something else.
So how do I really feel about languages?
Well, over the last couple of months I've written code in Ruby, Smalltalk, Javascript, Python (if you haven't read Programming Collective Intelligence
So what language do I think that you should program in?
All of the above, and as many more as possible.
Learn about functional programming. And iterator methods. And closures And continuations.
Even more importantly (from my selfish point of view), learn about things that other programming languages can do that I don't know about.
Then hopefully someday we'll be able to have a discussion about programming languages without resorting to pointless statements like "I still prefer braces over keywords for blocks" and instead we'll get comments that we can all learn something from.
Hear, hear! If you're ever in Chicago, come visit the polyglots. :-)
Should I care that you don't care? ;)
I'm usually apathetic about caring, but sometimes passionately ambivalent.
Well said.
I care
http://www.icareaboutsoftware.org/
Looks like Ruby put you off ;) Try PHP, it's simple, it's powerful, it's fun and best of all, it scales muahaha!
I only care when I have to fix, maintain or extend code written by someone else. Higher level languages tend to be easier to debug, since there is less code. Frameworks tend to encourage consistency. Even in these cases, however, the quality of the code is more important. The old saw about writing Fortran in any language still applies. (Duck as the Fortran Zealots descend like flying monkeys.)
Don't hold your breath on having a reasonable discussion regarding languages. I get the impression that the individuals who posted the unhelpful comments were neither reasonable nor interested in discussion.
Trust me, I know how you feel. I once wrote a post that got on Read/Write Web where I got reamed by every programmer on the planet for mentioning ASP. In retrospect, I would alter the post, but it's a perfect example of just how uptight programmers can get in the language wars.
Nice post. It's similar to when some good hearted individual writes an article and s/he's bashed for not doing it the way some commenter would. It seems people sometimes forget what's behind the article, such as the generosity of someone sharing code or knowledge (even if it is limited) and time. Or even better, those that flame against missing features in open source software and have yet to contribute anything themselves. Talk about an attitude of entitlement!
Moreover, when it comes to languages, no language is the be-all-and-end-all. Something was before language (x) and something will come afterwards. A good programmer does not limit their toolbox and, moreover, strives to consider and learn alternative ways of thinking and implementing. I love Ruby, but I'll leave it when something more appropriate comes along for a project.
And then there is also the fact that IT IS YOUR BLOG and you can write what you want. :) Thanks for setting it straight and reminding us.
I agree that we shouldn't care about your language choice. The letter spacing in your headline, on the other hand....