Learn Ruby

SE-wise, I find OOP cool. For most stuff, I find it a useful tool for SOME things. Not for I/O or other basic things. If I’m modelling an object, OOP. If I’m not, why OOP? Why should every integer be an object?

Forcing me to be OOP about everything is a bit of a turn-off at times. Python is clean. Scheme is elegant. Perl is cute. Ruby is…just Ruby.

Add to the fact that the syntax is Perl-inspired and you get something strange. Why would you do that? I love Perl, but I cannot deny that I’ve had trouble figuring out accessing hashrefs of arrayrefs of hashrefs and the like. Perl’s drawback is its syntax (though it also is part of the basis for its power).

Ruby, like most other languages of any note, is still worth learning, but hardly a priority. Only if I want to do Rails, and the error-filledness of 43Things and other Rails sites is not doing a lot to convince me I need that.

Several years ago, a friend of mine decided Ruby was awesome (though he’s since moved on to Python), and I wrote a couple short scripts to start learning it.

It didn’t seem particularly special to me, so I didn’t really bother. But Ruby on Rails has some interestingness, so I should probably learn Ruby.