[REBOL] Re: SketchUp -> seeking Ruby overview in Rebolese
From: jasonic:nomadics at: 10-Aug-2004 0:55
Hi Tim
> It seems to take about 30% more code to do something in python as in
> rebol, sometimes distinctly more than that, for instance the html
> rendering resources that I use for python are *way* more verbose than
> Andrew Martins 'ML dialect, which I use extensively for rebol.
>
> On the other hand, the more disciplined approach of python seems
> (in my experienc) to lend to greater scalability, easier maintenance,
> and less unexpected effects than rebol.
Thanks..
hmm Yes Python is a bit more verbose, but very consistent.
I feel it Python is more widely and reliably 'readable' than Rebol, while
Rebol is more fun, more mysterious and more 'writeable'.
Looking at Ruby scripts these past few days I find it mainly comes in nice
short nuggets and clysters, much more like the visual rhythm of a page of
Rebol.
Python code tends to be longer except, when in the hands of lucid maestros
Alex Martelli.
The 'unexpected' effects of Rebol are a side effect of its extraordinary
dense power and emergent properties.
I don't care personally about he rigor of object oriented or not. Ruby code
seems clean and direct, and FUN like much Rebol.
Ruby's author Matz appropriated lots of syntax from Perl and was reacting to
that.
He said in a more recent interview that he felt he got most things right,
but had gone perhaps too far in including some of those weird variables.
Rebol is wonderfully free of typographic clutter. At first I found the Ruby
use of special symbols irritating, yet already I am beginning to find they
help readability.
Funny how that happens. Now if only I could read Japanese, I could find some
real gems out there!
Jason
