[Tutor] Re: Re: Python vs. Ruby [where to find more about Ruby]

[Andrei]

Danny Yoo wrote on Wed, 29 Oct 2003 16:28:52 -0800 (PST):

>> Python docs are a lot better too, especially the ones in the ActiveState
>> distro; the there isn't even a "docs" entry in my Ruby program group!
>> Another advantage is that the whole of Python is quite English-oriented,
>> while a lot of Ruby stuff is still in Japanese only (at least I presume
>> it's Japanese), or really broken English.
> 
> Hi Andrei,
> 
> There are some good Ruby books out there.  In fact, the folks who wrote
> "The Pragmatic Programmer" have released their own Ruby book online:
> 
>     http://www.rubycentral.com/book/index.html

Yep, I know that one - it's the one I used/use to look into ruby (I can't
help being fascinated by the language, despite a definite feeling that I'll
never actually use it). It comes with the Windows distro too. But it's not
a ruby documentation. Ok, let's be fair, there is a docs dir, but that only
contains a limited number of subdirs which in turn contain a mix of text,
html and rb files, of varying quality and layout. No centralized index, no
library index, nothing that I can see.

The book also doesn't quite fit my style of learning (trying to be too
academically correct I think, while I'm more a fan of a pragmatic approach,
learning to walk before you learn to run and all that). This is in stark
contrast with the numerous excellent Python tutorials (you mentioned Dive
into Python, but How to think like a Comp. Sci. and Alan Gauld's and the
default Python tutorial are all quite good), not to mention the Instant
Hacking on hetland.org and the Python Quick Reference (which is not quite a
tutorial, but is still quite useful).

> I haven't been able to find an explicit Ruby-tutor mailing list, but I'm
> sure that the ruby-talk mailing list at:
> 
>     http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/20020104.html
> 
> is well suited for asking general Ruby learning questions.

I know that one too. But it has the disadvantage of being quite
high-volume, meaning there's a lot of "noise" which is not that interesting
to beginners. The python-tutor list is much quieter. I suspect that in
time, as ruby gets more popular, the 'issues' I mentioned will disappear.
But by that time Python will be faster than C or will be able to read your
thoughts and produce programs accordingly or something, and switching to
Ruby still won't be tempting :).

-- 
Yours,

Andrei

=====
Mail address in header catches spam. Real contact info (decode with rot13):
cebwrpg5 at bcrenznvy.pbz. Fcnz-serr! Cyrnfr qb abg hfr va choyvp cbfgf. V
ernq gur yvfg, fb gurer'f ab arrq gb PP.