[Vit-discuss] Ruby compared to other languages...

[James Britt]

Matt Todd wrote:
>>>>2) Let's celebrate Ruby. Poking fun at other languages' syntax just gets
>>>>down in the mud.
>>>
>>>Actually, I meant no fun by it, but a real-world comparison of how
>>>Ruby compares to others. For instance, in the previous example, you
>>>see how Ruby treats things as objects, but PHP decidedly does not.
>>
>>Yeah, but these things always end poorly, and no one comes out looking
>>good, no matter the intentions.
> 
> 
> If that's so, then shouldn't we avoid the "Ruby from other languages"
> articles, like this one?
> http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/ruby-from-other-languages/to-ruby-from-php/
> 

Depends.  Longer articles have the opportunity to present a more 
accurate assessment of a language's pros and cons, so it's less likely 
to come off as a simplistic propaganda when offering substantial 
practical information on doing similar tasks in different languages.

I don't remember enough PHP to say if that particular article is 
balanced or not, though it seems pretty benign.  It avoids an actual 
code, so there's less chance someone will complain that the PHP code is 
poorly written, or wrong, or deceptive, or whatever.

Short, one-off comparisons meant to portray one language as 
better/cleaner/prettier than another (and that's really what this is 
about) end up as flame wars.


In the end, it's distracting from the site and from Ruby.

-- 
James Britt

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