I’m no haskell guru, but I’ve gotten my feet wet and I can find my way around a haskell program now. It certainly won’t replace Ruby for me, but there were many things I really liked about it. And, too, it is always a good thing to stretch your mind and learn about different ways of looking at problems and their solutions.
This was a poorly chosen goal for me, I think. It’s one of those things that has no “finish”—you’re striving your entire life to be better.
So, I am definitely a better programmer than I was when I started this as a goal, but that is not to say I cannot be better yet. It’s a journey, not a destination.
I’ve actually been doing this for over a month now, and I’m hooked. That’s not to say I don’t write any code before I write the tests, first, but it is definitely my preferred approach. It has made my code cleaner and easier to test. I love it!
You know, I don’t think I’ll ever have the guts to say “yes, today I finally mastered Ruby.”
Sure, there are people I think of as Ruby masters. And sure, I am very experienced in Ruby. But both the masters, and myself, have at least one thing in common: we’re still learning.
Even matz, I’ll wager. Yes, even He Who Created Ruby. His level of mastery is far beyond mine, but even he’s still learning, pushing the envelope of what Ruby can be made to do.
So, with that realization, I’m going to say that I’ve achieved this goal, just so that I can get it off my list of “things to do.” And besides, maybe the realization that mastery is always a few steps ahead of where I am, really does mean I’ve reached it.
I’ve tried a few times, but for some reason my brain has a hard time with these kinds of languages. I’ve “learned” scheme, but only in order to pass a class…all the buzz around Haskell has got me curious though. I’ve tried learning it a few times, but maybe it’s time for another go.
I must admit, my being hired at 37signals is a good example of what I’m referring to, but in general I always seem to be a step behind or just next door to where the good stuff really happens. :)
I’m awful at this. I’ve been known to let email languish in my inbox for weeks, not out of any desire to avoid the sender, but just because “oh, I’m too busy to answer that one right now. Maybe tonight…”
It’s awesome. Ruby is a wonderful, wonderful language to use when developing software.
I love it! Beautiful interface, great eye-candy… Only a few things I don’t like (Safari, menu across the top instead of per-window, and no pgup/pgdn/insert/delete/home/end keys), but the pros far-outweight the cons. Definitely worth doing!
I spoke at RubyConf 2004 (about Copland), and it was an incredible experience. I loved it, and would love to do it again.
So, my new 17” 1.5Ghz PowerBook has shipped, as of yesterday. Estimated arrival date, 28th Feb.
Gah! I can’t wait!
So, I’ve moved to the next stage: HTML mockups. The way things progress using this technique is fascinating—I’m already understanding the requirements and interface much better than I had before (in any of my other attempts to implement this beast).
I’m going to drop back to paper and pencil now, though, and start sketching out the pages for some of the more “core” functionality of the application. Great fun!
Can you say “dream job?” 37signals has got to be one of the best groups of guys I’ve ever met, and here I am, gearing up to work for them. This marks the first of a series of significant changes for me, including:
Life is good!
I’m finally reading “The Pragmatic Programmer” by Andrew Hunt and Dave Thomas, and I love it. I’d say I’m actively doing maybe half of the things they recommend—lots of room for improvement.
We’ve got the first 4 seasons, and love them. It is certainly not a show that everyone will love, but my wife and I prefer it to any of the other Star Trek series. Good stuff.
I’ve been a Linux guy for the last 5+ years, and have no complaints. Linux has treated me really well, especially since I found the Gentoo distribution. However, maybe I’m just growing up, but I’m getting to the point where even if I know how to fix a problem, I’d rather not spend the time on it. I’m ready for something that “just works”, as they say.
There was a time when I swore I would never use a Mac, back when it was OS version 7 or 8. I’ve since seen OS X, and heard people raving about it, and I have to admit—the Mac is now something I think I could grow to love.
I’m ready to give it a try, I think.
I’ve started using SVN for all of my personal projects, and in the few weeks that have since elapsed, I’ve already decided that it is much better than CVS. In fact, I still have to use CVS at work, and I find the experience painful.
Long live SVN!
Do it. Learn Ruby. The worst thing that could happen is that you’ll decide it doesn’t fit your way of doing things. On the other hand, you could find Ruby to be the best programming language you’ve ever used, like I did.
Finding Ruby was one of the most fortunate things I’ve done in recent years. Ruby just makes programming fun, something languages like Python and Java absolutely fail to do for me.
Your mileage may vary, but it certainly can’t hurt to take a day or two and see what Ruby has to offer!
It helps to have friends in high places.
That’s all I’m going to say about this one.
