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I think Google is making some bad choices with the technologies that they are choosing to support (Python/Java over Ruby, Mercurial over Git). While there migh

I think Google is making some bad choices with the technologies that they are choosing to support (Python/Java over Ruby, Mercurial over Git). While there might be technological advantages to Python/Java/Mercurial, the Ruby and Git communities are a more evangelical and willing to try new things.

dschobel 18y ago
Are you being facetious or do you really believe evangelism trumps technology?
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- jshen 18y ago
  I'd say that it plays a much greater role than people want to believe.
andreyf 18y ago
I think GvR working at Python has something to do with it. If, instead, Yukihiro Matsumoto had gone to work at Google and build a team developing development technologies around Ruby, things might be different. Not that it's that big of a change either way.
- jmtulloss 18y ago
  There is something to be said for the fact that Google went after GvR and not YM.
  - jasonwatkinspdx 18y ago
    Yay for one line insinuations about people few of us actually know well enough to have an informed opinion about.
    - jmtulloss 18y ago
      I wasn't insinuating anything about the people, I was insinuating something about Google's language preferences as expressed through their hiring choices.
  - litewulf 18y ago
    GvR has better English proficiency?
- tvon 18y ago
  FWIW, Google was using Python internally long before GvR came on board.
riobard 18y ago
"I think Google is making some bad choices with the technologies that they are choosing to support (Python/Java over Ruby, Mercurial over Git)." I remember a large portion of Google's codebase has been based on Python/Java when Ruby was not popular back then. How could you say they made a bad choice to support their own infrastructure? As the reason of choosing Mercurial for Google Code, consider the following facts in addition: 0. Mercurial is written in Python (well, some critical parts in C) 1. Google App Engine supports Python first (then Java) 2. GvR works in Google 3. Python adopts Mercurial this year for version control
- tvon 18y ago
  Good points, but as pointed out elsewhere in this thread: * Mercurial support at Google started before the discussion to move Python (I don't know details, but someone said it here so it must be true) * Google was using Python long before GvR was hired. [edit: s/hg/Mercurial/, I guess it's the proper thing to say]
- jasonwatkinspdx 18y ago
  The road of convenience isn't necessarily the best road for your product. Looking at how github has exploded, and how much more momentum git has in the community, it's hard for me to be convinced that it's not worth the effort it would take google to support it. I also think they should support hg and bzr.
mrkurt 18y ago
What an odd thing to say. I guess if you're confined to the Ruby/Git communities, it might seem like no one else has any passion, but still... There's a ton of fantastic work being done in Python and on the JVM, and quite a few vocal fans of hg. I mean, Scala and Closure get a ton of play here. People are doing fantastic stuff with Django, Twisted, Stackless (and bragging about it). There are lots of people (me included) that would probably be using hg full time if it weren't for Github. It's really important to keep yourself from being cloistered in a single environment, I think. It's awfully easy to miss cool stuff elsewhere if all you give a crap about is Ruby, and probably detrimental to your own learning.

dschobel 18y ago

Are you being facetious or do you really believe evangelism trumps technology?

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
jshen 18y ago
I'd say that it plays a much greater role than people want to believe.

andreyf 18y ago

I think GvR working at Python has something to do with it. If, instead, Yukihiro Matsumoto had gone to work at Google and build a team developing development technologies around Ruby, things might be different. Not that it's that big of a change either way.

jmtulloss 18y ago
There is something to be said for the fact that Google went after GvR and not YM.
- jasonwatkinspdx 18y ago
  Yay for one line insinuations about people few of us actually know well enough to have an informed opinion about.
  - jmtulloss 18y ago
    I wasn't insinuating anything about the people, I was insinuating something about Google's language preferences as expressed through their hiring choices.
- litewulf 18y ago
  GvR has better English proficiency?
tvon 18y ago
FWIW, Google was using Python internally long before GvR came on board.

riobard 18y ago

"I think Google is making some bad choices with the technologies that they are choosing to support (Python/Java over Ruby, Mercurial over Git)." I remember a large portion of Google's codebase has been based on Python/Java when Ruby was not popular back then. How could you say they made a bad choice to support their own infrastructure? As the reason of choosing Mercurial for Google Code, consider the following facts in addition: 0. Mercurial is written in Python (well, some critical parts in C) 1. Google App Engine supports Python first (then Java) 2. GvR works in Google 3. Python adopts Mercurial this year for version control

tvon 18y ago
Good points, but as pointed out elsewhere in this thread: * Mercurial support at Google started before the discussion to move Python (I don't know details, but someone said it here so it must be true) * Google was using Python long before GvR was hired. [edit: s/hg/Mercurial/, I guess it's the proper thing to say]
jasonwatkinspdx 18y ago
The road of convenience isn't necessarily the best road for your product. Looking at how github has exploded, and how much more momentum git has in the community, it's hard for me to be convinced that it's not worth the effort it would take google to support it. I also think they should support hg and bzr.

mrkurt 18y ago

What an odd thing to say. I guess if you're confined to the Ruby/Git communities, it might seem like no one else has any passion, but still... There's a ton of fantastic work being done in Python and on the JVM, and quite a few vocal fans of hg. I mean, Scala and Closure get a ton of play here. People are doing fantastic stuff with Django, Twisted, Stackless (and bragging about it). There are lots of people (me included) that would probably be using hg full time if it weren't for Github. It's really important to keep yourself from being cloistered in a single environment, I think. It's awfully easy to miss cool stuff elsewhere if all you give a crap about is Ruby, and probably detrimental to your own learning.