Ruby vs Python (was: Re: [YLUG] I.T. consultancies/software houses in York area?)

[Robert Hulme]

> > C# ! Eek ;-) (my work time is split 50:50 Ruby and C#)
>    Actually, I rather like it (gets coat ...)
:-)

I *do like* C# compared to say Java. The class library in C# seems to
be better (just based on my experience), and Java has been playing
catch up for a bit in terms of language features (e.g. they resisted
the JSRs to have generics in Java but put them in when M$ did with C#
2.0), and I expect that to accelerate even more with C# 3.0 (LINQ
etc).

Of course C# has the issue of not being fabulously well supported on
open platforms (the mono project exists and I have written code for it
but the compilers / run time environments are not as mature as say
Java). Then again the C# language is an ISO (?) standard whereas the
Java one isn't... But afterall we're talking about M$ at the end of
the day... If I was writing something for myself I'd avoid anything
tainted by M$.

My comment really is more about the power / expressiveness of the so
called scripting languages.

I fall back to Paul Graham to explain what I mean:
"The programmers you'll be able to hire to work on a Java project
won't be as smart as the ones you could get to work on a project
written in Python. And the quality of your hackers probably matters
more than the language you choose. Though, frankly, the fact that good
hackers prefer Python to Java should tell you something about the
relative merits of those languages."

http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html

*enters flame proof bunker*

-- 
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"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to
persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan

http://www.robhulme.com/
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