Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!newsfeed.hal-mli.net!feeder1.hal-mli.net!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!news.cgarbs.de!de-l.enfer-du-nord.net!feeder2.enfer-du-nord.net!talisker.lacave.net!lacave.net!not-for-mail From: Everett L Williams II Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby Subject: Re: Lambda Shambda Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2011 07:17:26 -0500 Organization: Service de news de lacave.net Lines: 55 Message-ID: <4D986551.70802@classicnet.net> References: <3ab1912e670b08219714322dad0a1ebe@ruby-forum.com> <20110330143723.GA75718@guilt.hydra> <20110330192538.GA76517@guilt.hydra> <20110331053229.GB78145@guilt.hydra> <7631a84ea921373c09e25b83d0742e6e@ruby-forum.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: bristol.highgroove.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: talisker.lacave.net 1301833063 20650 65.111.164.187 (3 Apr 2011 12:17:43 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@lacave.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2011 12:17:43 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: X-Received-From: This message has been automatically forwarded from the ruby-talk mailing list by a gateway at comp.lang.ruby. If it is SPAM, it did not originate at comp.lang.ruby. Please report the original sender, and not us. Thanks! For more details about this gateway, please visit: http://blog.grayproductions.net/categories/the_gateway X-Mail-Count: 380839 X-Ml-Name: ruby-talk X-Gateway-Modified: [Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.] X-Rubymirror: Yes X-Ruby-Talk: <4D986551.70802@classicnet.net> Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.ruby:2192 [Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.] *Let's not pay too much attention to the code snobs on here. I've yet to see a recursive function that is more efficient than a more linearly coded function that accomplishes the same thing, and there is always the problem of curtailing recursion. People often mistake shortest code for the most efficient or effective, and that is seldom true. In addition, there are a whole host more people who can write acceptable programs in Excel than there are who can do so in Ruby or probably the sum of all the languages that are in that category. Most of them are not as pretty to the mind of someone who programs for a living, but I have seen a whole lot more things written in Excel..repeat...repeat. That does not mean that it is desirable to write highly complex and detailed projects in Excel, largely because of the distribution cost. If Excel were free, you would see even more stuff written in it. The other main defects in Excel are that it is hard to control a product written in it because you are dependent on Microsoft-ian whims. The latter is the least of the problems. You also have to have a lot more financial muscle to get into the Excel game at the commercial level. And last, there is the question of portability/compatibility across various environments. If you are after the 80-90% of intel x86 compatible machines that run Windows, that is not an issue. I won't even say that maintenance is a bigger problem in Excel, though the issue can be argued in many different ways. Once you have made up your mind to use a tool like Ruby, you have to pick a flavor, and you really need to know C/C++ as well as Ruby to really be able to use Ruby. If you intend to have cross-platform support, you need to understand the subtleties of the various platforms you intend to support, which is a problem in almost any language. Perl and Python and especially java should also be considered, especially if there is a history of coding in one of those languages within your organization. All that aside, Ruby is an excellent and well supported tool, well worth your time and effort, but something that should be considered is that the simplest tool that is effective should usually be used. Good luck. Everett L.(Rett) Williams II * Phillip Gawlowski wrote: > On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 7:29 AM, Mike Stephens wrote: > >> However, since you ask: Excel is by far the World's most widely used >> programming language. >> > As Carl Sagan once said: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. > > Excel is an automation tool, certainly, but I wouldn't call a finance > sheet, sales report, or statistical analysis of data in a diagram > "programming". > >