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One of the problems that the Ruby community seems to have focused on is bridging the gap between code and ideas. I say this as a non-Ruby-programmer. At the e

One of the problems that the Ruby community seems to have focused on is bridging the gap between code and ideas. I say this as a non-Ruby-programmer. At the end of the day, computers simply read language and convert that into some basic operations. But still, the average non programmer feels like software is this black box of mystery which takes years to comprehend. And that's not true! I know plenty of people programming synth's on Ableton, mostly using their mouse to point and drag. And I suspect a lot of them suffer from 'click and drag fatigue'. Most of them would be able understand all of the parameters being exposed here. Helping bring practical programming to non-programmers is a noble goal. And I hope they succeed... because what programmers want to keep re-writing the same boilerplate for the next 20 years?

vinceguidry 8y ago
> One of the problems that the Ruby community seems to have focused on is bridging the gap between code and ideas. I say this as a non-Ruby-programmer. As a Rubyist, I say this is pretty well on-the-mark. People ask me all the time why I love Ruby, why I think Ruby is the best language ever made, why I think in a thousand years, Ruby will have eaten all the other languages. It's because at the end of the day, Ruby is a far more pleasing mental interface to software systems than anything else. If it's not Ruby we're all programming with in a thousand years, what language it is we are programming in, will look a lot like Ruby.
- pjc50 8y ago
  > Ruby is a far more pleasing mental interface to software systems than anything else. I've heard this argument for basically every niche language, usually things like Lisp and (color) Forth. I've concluded that different people have very different internal mental models of programming.
  - vinceguidry 8y ago
    I've used Lisp, and fell in love with it, before finding Ruby. Ruby is better than Lisp. It took me some time to realize this. Lisp isn't bad, but it's not Ruby. I wouldn't call Ruby a niche language. You can use it for anything, it's very much a general purpose programming language. Most people only build websites with it, but you do see lots of other kinds of things built with it too, including, you know, a digital audio workstation. I'd call PHP a niche language before I'd pin that on Ruby.

vinceguidry 8y ago

> One of the problems that the Ruby community seems to have focused on is bridging the gap between code and ideas. I say this as a non-Ruby-programmer. As a Rubyist, I say this is pretty well on-the-mark. People ask me all the time why I love Ruby, why I think Ruby is the best language ever made, why I think in a thousand years, Ruby will have eaten all the other languages. It's because at the end of the day, Ruby is a far more pleasing mental interface to software systems than anything else. If it's not Ruby we're all programming with in a thousand years, what language it is we are programming in, will look a lot like Ruby.

pjc50 8y ago
> Ruby is a far more pleasing mental interface to software systems than anything else. I've heard this argument for basically every niche language, usually things like Lisp and (color) Forth. I've concluded that different people have very different internal mental models of programming.
- vinceguidry 8y ago
  I've used Lisp, and fell in love with it, before finding Ruby. Ruby is better than Lisp. It took me some time to realize this. Lisp isn't bad, but it's not Ruby. I wouldn't call Ruby a niche language. You can use it for anything, it's very much a general purpose programming language. Most people only build websites with it, but you do see lots of other kinds of things built with it too, including, you know, a digital audio workstation. I'd call PHP a niche language before I'd pin that on Ruby.