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I'm trying to imagine why somebody would start writing so hateful comment on hn. how empty the soul of that human can be?

goatlover 4y ago
There is a school of thought that you should use the right tool for the job, and some languages are better tools for certain tasks. Python already has all the libraries, and Julia has built-in language support. But nobody is stopping you from using Ruby or JS or PHP for whatever.
- bhaak 4y ago
  > There is a school of thought that you should use the right tool for the job But there are often real world constraints that influence the choice of the tool. For example if you have a Rails app already, going with more Ruby code might fit better than branching out to Python or Julia. > and some languages are better tools for certain tasks. Yes, although in the case of Python, it's not the language that is better but the eco system support.
- weatherlight 4y ago
  The right tool for the right job needs to take into consideration what languages/tools people know and have been exposed to. We process billions of events/records weekly with just Ruby and Sidekiq/Redis at my current job. Its way easier to extend what we have with Ruby than switching to Spark/Python/Scala/Kafka or whatever etc is complete overkill.
ipsum2 4y ago
I didn't read it as hateful, but as legitimate curiosity. Ruby is at a disadvantage because the analytics ecosystem is primarily Python based.
- rco8786 4y ago
  Imagine if people never tried anything new simply because they were starting from a disadvantage! In machine learning this would be called a "local maxima".
- zmmmmm 4y ago
  I can see where they are coming from. The use of the words "I'm trying to imagine" is really very provocative, because it suggests that the commenter has thought hard about it comprehensively eliminated any possible reason one would use Ruby. Which in turn implies there is literally nothing good about Ruby at all. So someone has poured heart and soul into building a free library in their own time, giving it away to everyone and the response is to casually dismiss it with a remark suggesting there is literally no reason for it to exist. Is it a big deal? no. But it would be good if people tried to be kind when commenting.

goatlover 4y ago

There is a school of thought that you should use the right tool for the job, and some languages are better tools for certain tasks. Python already has all the libraries, and Julia has built-in language support. But nobody is stopping you from using Ruby or JS or PHP for whatever.

bhaak 4y ago
> There is a school of thought that you should use the right tool for the job But there are often real world constraints that influence the choice of the tool. For example if you have a Rails app already, going with more Ruby code might fit better than branching out to Python or Julia. > and some languages are better tools for certain tasks. Yes, although in the case of Python, it's not the language that is better but the eco system support.
weatherlight 4y ago
The right tool for the right job needs to take into consideration what languages/tools people know and have been exposed to. We process billions of events/records weekly with just Ruby and Sidekiq/Redis at my current job. Its way easier to extend what we have with Ruby than switching to Spark/Python/Scala/Kafka or whatever etc is complete overkill.

ipsum2 4y ago

I didn't read it as hateful, but as legitimate curiosity. Ruby is at a disadvantage because the analytics ecosystem is primarily Python based.

rco8786 4y ago
Imagine if people never tried anything new simply because they were starting from a disadvantage! In machine learning this would be called a "local maxima".
zmmmmm 4y ago
I can see where they are coming from. The use of the words "I'm trying to imagine" is really very provocative, because it suggests that the commenter has thought hard about it comprehensively eliminated any possible reason one would use Ruby. Which in turn implies there is literally nothing good about Ruby at all. So someone has poured heart and soul into building a free library in their own time, giving it away to everyone and the response is to casually dismiss it with a remark suggesting there is literally no reason for it to exist. Is it a big deal? no. But it would be good if people tried to be kind when commenting.