4 ms·

I used Crystal to create a web application a 2-3 years ago. It is running great without any problems. There are not that many users (only about 300-400) at any

by bb1234 4y ago

I used Crystal to create a web application a 2-3 years ago. It is running great without any problems. There are not that many users (only about 300-400) at any time. Anyhow, I did not touch the application in the last two years, and did not use Crystal in the last two years for anything else. I used Rust to write some simple personal CLI apps, which was fun but also hard. For some reason, couple of days back I returned to Crystal for a CLI app that I am making. I will say this: Crystal is a lot of fun to program in, easy to use and performant all at the same time. I cannot explain the reasons objectively, but it is really a joy to use Crystal. I think I will be using it from now on. I just wish it had a bigger community and as a result more libraries.

axelthegerman 4y ago
Probably because of the Ruby inspired syntax which just brings joy. Hopefully the ecosystem can grow and partially catch up as well
- jjtheblunt 4y ago
  i've seen that said so many times, and fail to understand why Ruby syntax brings joy. Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess, coming from Scheme 30 years ago to Ruby 20 years ago.
  - threatofrain 4y ago
    Ruby was among the first languages I learned, back when there was the possibility of Ruby being a general purpose language and not just Rails. My joy was the result of being able to guess syntax and be right. Nowadays I value reading documentation and IDE level support, so guessing syntax is no longer a joy.
  - gsinclair 4y ago
    I guess those things are a compromise. Being able to use that concept easily is a joy. The implementation prioritises developer convenience over syntactic purity. It’s a shame we can’t have both, but I accept the trade-off.
  - nurettin 4y ago
    > Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess Why not use one (probably just block) for everything? Coming from ruby 10 years ago.
    - xigoi 4y ago
      Blocks can't be stored in variables.
      - nurettin 4y ago
        Yes, I don't store them in variables, but I can expand them in generators and yield them. To me, that is much more useful than storing them.
  - jrumbut 4y ago
    Well it would seem very messy coming from Scheme! Scheme is a small language which achieves expressiveness by allowing you great freedom to push the language into bold new forms. Ruby (especially with Rails which should almost be considered a separate language) is a big language where simplicity is maintained by informal convention. Ruby has lots of muddles and messy features, good Ruby code bypasses them.
  - straight-shoota 4y ago
    I can gladly point out that Crystal has a much cleaned up syntax for blocks and procs (compared to Ruby): https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.5/syntax_and_semantics/blocks_and_procs.html https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.5/syntax_and_semantics/...
  - werdnapk 4y ago
    That's quite a minor nitpick on an entire language that's been around for over 25 years.
  - zelphirkalt 4y ago
    When I saw it, I felt the same way (also using Scheme a lot) and I still feel it is messy. However, what I think might be the reason for it, is that it is difficult to store a lambda in Scheme including its whole environment in an object and send that over the wire somewhere else, on a different machine to run. Perhaps distinguishing between Proc, block and lambda gives Ruby a possibility to treat one of them specially, so that it can do these things easily?
- ed25519FUUU 4y ago
  I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I look at that syntax and cringe.
  - pell 4y ago
    What about it makes you cringe?
    - ed25519FUUU 4y ago
      This kind of thing End End End End End
      - lgreiv 4y ago
        While it is not completely impossible to end up (pun intended) with something like this, you usually follow a coding style that avoids it. Kind of like in Ruby. You have the option to define named methods that yield or to use the short one-parameter syntax where this: method do |param| param.some_method end becomes method &.some_method
- tromp 4y ago
  I get no joy from Ruby syntax. Haskell syntax on the other hand I love...
- piyushpr134 4y ago
  Same argument that I keep on having with people who like 1. gray and darker gray buildings of a tree-less megacity beautiful, with a dash of color vs 2. those who find small cities/villages mixed with art, trees & colourfully dressed people beautiful.

by bb1234 4y ago

axelthegerman 4y ago

Probably because of the Ruby inspired syntax which just brings joy. Hopefully the ecosystem can grow and partially catch up as well

jjtheblunt 4y ago
i've seen that said so many times, and fail to understand why Ruby syntax brings joy. Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess, coming from Scheme 30 years ago to Ruby 20 years ago.
- threatofrain 4y ago
  Ruby was among the first languages I learned, back when there was the possibility of Ruby being a general purpose language and not just Rails. My joy was the result of being able to guess syntax and be right. Nowadays I value reading documentation and IDE level support, so guessing syntax is no longer a joy.
- gsinclair 4y ago
  I guess those things are a compromise. Being able to use that concept easily is a joy. The implementation prioritises developer convenience over syntactic purity. It’s a shame we can’t have both, but I accept the trade-off.
- nurettin 4y ago
  > Personally, I thought the muddled Proc, block, and lambda situation a mess Why not use one (probably just block) for everything? Coming from ruby 10 years ago.
  - xigoi 4y ago
    Blocks can't be stored in variables.
    - nurettin 4y ago
      Yes, I don't store them in variables, but I can expand them in generators and yield them. To me, that is much more useful than storing them.
- jrumbut 4y ago
  Well it would seem very messy coming from Scheme! Scheme is a small language which achieves expressiveness by allowing you great freedom to push the language into bold new forms. Ruby (especially with Rails which should almost be considered a separate language) is a big language where simplicity is maintained by informal convention. Ruby has lots of muddles and messy features, good Ruby code bypasses them.
- straight-shoota 4y ago
  I can gladly point out that Crystal has a much cleaned up syntax for blocks and procs (compared to Ruby): https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.5/syntax_and_semantics/blocks_and_procs.html https://crystal-lang.org/reference/1.5/syntax_and_semantics/...
- werdnapk 4y ago
  That's quite a minor nitpick on an entire language that's been around for over 25 years.
- zelphirkalt 4y ago
  When I saw it, I felt the same way (also using Scheme a lot) and I still feel it is messy. However, what I think might be the reason for it, is that it is difficult to store a lambda in Scheme including its whole environment in an object and send that over the wire somewhere else, on a different machine to run. Perhaps distinguishing between Proc, block and lambda gives Ruby a possibility to treat one of them specially, so that it can do these things easily?
ed25519FUUU 4y ago
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I look at that syntax and cringe.
- pell 4y ago
  What about it makes you cringe?
  - ed25519FUUU 4y ago
    This kind of thing End End End End End
    - lgreiv 4y ago
      While it is not completely impossible to end up (pun intended) with something like this, you usually follow a coding style that avoids it. Kind of like in Ruby. You have the option to define named methods that yield or to use the short one-parameter syntax where this: method do |param| param.some_method end becomes method &.some_method
tromp 4y ago
I get no joy from Ruby syntax. Haskell syntax on the other hand I love...
piyushpr134 4y ago
Same argument that I keep on having with people who like 1. gray and darker gray buildings of a tree-less megacity beautiful, with a dash of color vs 2. those who find small cities/villages mixed with art, trees & colourfully dressed people beautiful.