But you can't say that you won't use some other language just because "it has no extra features". Sure you can! The cost of switching languages may outweigh th

But you can't say that you won't use some other language just because "it has no extra features". Sure you can! The cost of switching languages may outweigh the expected value of the extra features, especially if they're only marginally more useful or not useful at all. * ... the benefits of a good and clean Smalltak-flavored object system like Ruby's.* I'm unconvinced. Ruby's hacky metaprogramming is hacky because you just don't get the Smalltalk browser without an image-based environment. You can make huge messes in Smalltalk if you monkeypatch hither and yon, but you also get better tools to help avoid the situation and to extricate yourself from it.