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> Python has engineers and Ruby rockstars This meaningless statement really bugs me. People who write Python and Ruby aren't rockstar engineers. They're just p
by sjs 16y ago
> Python has engineers and Ruby rockstars
This meaningless statement really bugs me. People who write Python and Ruby aren't rockstar engineers. They're just programmers/developers/[whatever you like to call them].
People who speak English are simply English speakers. Nothing more can, nor should, be inferred from that fact.
- reitzensteinm 16y agoI think that people blow it out of proportion, but the primary language choice (and I do mean the language they use when they can chose) of a developer does imply something, however small. Assembly programming is different enough to Ruby programming that it does imply something about a person that prefers working in either the former or latter environment. However, the reason I agree with you and upvoted you is that Ruby, Python and Perl are so similar in mindset that anything you might learn from those choices is basically lost in the noise. It's like trying to figure out what a person's choice of colour of parachute means... which is silly, but the fact that he or she skydives does mean something.
- sjs 16y agoI like Ruby and assembly (and C, Python, Lisp, JavaScript, ...). So I agree that one's primary language may say something about them, but that something might only be that they happened to land a good job doing X.
- gaius 16y agoNo, choosing a (Turing-complete) language is really choosing a community, of people who work on the same things you do in a similar way. Community implies shared values. Python's belief in there being only one correct way to do it, for example, is anathema to Ruby and Perl types. Ruby people like being called "rock stars" or "ninjas" (or it wouldn't be widespread in their community, job ads, blogs, etc etc). Just like Perl types like being called "wizards" (see how many times the word "magic" appears in the documentation).
- sjs 16y agoWe absolutely do not all like being called rockstars or ninjas. I do agree that the communities are different but the differences are usually not that important when comparing languages that are very similar, such as Python and Ruby.
- gaius 16y agoWhich is why I said "Turing-complete". Python and Ruby communities are radically different. Ruby people tend to be in their 20s and primarily employed to do Ruby, mainly for websites. Python people tend to be older and write Python as a part of their main job, they are not employed as programmers (and as such language choice is not mandated).
- sjs 16y agoMore generalizations. sigh