Posted on Friday 18 November 2005 - Popularity: 5%
An interesting view of programming languages and why you may not should learn Ruby:
Why You Shouldn’t Pick Ruby (Maybe)
So how does all of this relate to Ruby? I hope I’ve illustrated the decreasing developer benefit for learning additional languages in the same family. Does this mean that once your know C or Java you should never learn another Algol-based language? No. That’s not a realistic position given the economic demands of the industry. What I am suggesting is that when it comes time to learn a new language take a step back and survey the landscape. Try to really stretch your mind every once in a while and learn a programming language quite different from the ones you’re used to. There are a huge number of programming languages out there. And while learning some of them will not improve your resume or result in any paying work they will improve your mind and reasoning ability. That is what ultimately separates truly good developers from the mediocre.
He definitely makes some good points. Personally I think you should learn Ruby as it’s a very good exercise on OO programming and a language that seams to become really popular lately. But if you already use a similar language and don’t have a lot of free time anyway, then there really isn’t anything that should force you to learn Ruby as long as Ruby doesn’t become a job requirement.
November 18th, 2005 at 8:23 pm
hey, normally I couldn’t care less about anyone’s spelling, and mine is quite horrible anyway, but I’m only mentioning this because I saw it twic on this page…its “seems”, not “seams” (”seams” are the stitching on the side of your pants).
i can agree with both the point in the article and your point. I’d rather spend more time honing my skills with what I already know at this point that learn an entirely new language, but even just checking out how other languages pull off some stuff might show you a better way to pull it off in your “native” language.
hey, I just noticed that commetn preview thing, that’s awesome!!
November 18th, 2005 at 8:39 pm
Thx, will remember that spelling error. English is only my 4th language and I’m still far from mastering it, so every hint like that can help.
Fredi
November 19th, 2005 at 12:09 am
“English is only my 4th language”
hha, nice…i still have trouble with it and it’s my only.