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I don't mind, with some reservations
I haven't looked at RoR, but the idea of improving developer productivity sounds like a good idea to me. From the description of it, it's not a new language, but a framework added to Ruby, a scripting language that's been around for a while now.

The thing with scripting languages is they typically get little development support. I mean this in the sense of libraries, debuggers, static analyzers, etc. Often scripting languages depend on products developed in other languages (ie. C/C++, Java) to extend their capabilities. The reason scripting languages used to proliferate is they were quick and dirty ways to automate the management of resources, particularly with system administration. You didn't need to be a developer to write them either, though the skill helped.

Personally I shy away from the idea of using scripting languages for development. The lack of debugger support is a particular bone of contention for me. If I'm going to write a large app., I need an easy way to diagnose problems in it or else my productivity goes down dramatically. The only scripting language I know of that has any sort of debugger support from some vendors is javascript. It's only gotten that support because it's a widespread industry standard.

If anyone knows of debugger support for other scripting languages, like PHP, Python, Perl, or Ruby, I'd be interested in knowing about it. It's just been my experience that most script languages don't have it.
Posted by: Mark Miller   Posted on: 10/31/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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I brought this up  Roger Ramjet | 10/31/05
PAPPL?  jpratch | 10/31/05
Its just another trick  Roger Ramjet | 10/31/05
I don't mind, with some reservations  Mark Miller | 10/31/05
Debugging tools for PHP  eheimer | 11/01/05
So what's wrong with Fortran?  Gravitas@... | 10/31/05
Like what?  Not average Joe | 10/31/05
Like handcuffing your code to specific hardware  Robert Kohlenberger | 11/01/05
Right on the Money RK  tbbrickster_z | 11/02/05
Productivity writing assembler?  cgraham_z | 11/03/05
Agree that Database Procedures are Evil  daver_z | 10/31/05
Maybe for small applications  Yensi717 | 10/31/05
OOD  Gravitas@... | 10/31/05
I think  Yensi717 | 10/31/05
Spot on right  Justin James | 10/31/05
Yeah, well...  emofine | 10/31/05
Varying opinions  tero_t_vaananen@... | 11/01/05
Right on.  zztong | 11/01/05
Multiple database vendors  Yensi717 | 11/01/05
Not a pain to edit  Chad_z | 11/01/05
Great framework  bkatz | 10/31/05
Looked like a pain to me...  Justin James | 10/31/05
For Unix deployments you might consider...  Mark Miller | 10/31/05
Message has been deleted.  khakman | 10/31/05
I've heard of Ruby  CobraA1 | 10/31/05
You mean like Smalltalk?  wkharold | 10/31/05
Funny  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 10/31/05
true  jimk_z | 10/31/05
true  jimk_z | 10/31/05
Ruby is OO  tero_t_vaananen@... | 11/01/05
Just what are people spouting about?  jacec | 10/31/05
Are there other benefits?  DougOfCBS ZDNet Moderator | 11/01/05
This is not serious development  SQLDBAJames | 05/29/06
Not everything is a nail  rarsa | 11/03/05

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