Advanced Ruby Q&A

[BigWorm]

Let me help you solve the problems that you can't quite figure out the best way to tackle. I have an interview for a Ruby-related job later this week and I want to get some practice answering challenging questions about Ruby.

[SpiffyJr]

Why should I use Ruby instead of Python? Go!

[BigWorm]

Why should I use Ruby instead of Python? Go!

Better object system, including MOP and reflection. Way better list handling. Ease of passing around code blocks and closures. The last two mean iterators are really good too. Ruby makes it a lot easier to define DSLs.

A friend once said that Python felt like the newspeak of programming languages and thats probably the best way I can describe how Python feels to me. I know that the reasoning for the indention rules and inflexible API is that it leads to more consistent code, but I think it makes Python code really bland. A language should make simple things simple, which Python does, but should also make complex things possible, which I feel like the language doesn't model nearly as well. I haven't come across a domain where I immediately thought that Python was language that best models the problem.

That said, I really like a lot of projects that use python like trac, sickbeard, xbmc, sabnzbd, etc and would totally consider a Python job if the problem area was interesting. Python is definitely better if you need numerical performance. I think it is a better first language as it prevents many bad habits or at least makes them stand out.

[Stretch]

Go to corporate, never have to do actual thinking again.

[BigWorm]

Go to corporate, never have to do actual thinking again.

I contracting at a corporate place right now and can't stand it. I also have a phone interview with a hardcore finance-related company tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.