Perl 6

[prog]

I feel the gentle winds of conventional wisdom buffeting me towards Ruby.

Is there a practical reason why I might want to do this? Coz if I learned it just for S&G but then didn't immediately start using it for serious, I'd forget it.

"Dude, Rails" is not a sufficient reason, unless you can tell me why I'd want to use Rails over any Mason-based solution.

(Referring to Ruby as "Perl 6" is from xach, and the funniest in-joke I've heard all week.)

Comments

[jaq.livejournal.com]

Is there ever a practical reason for learning a programming language when you already know several that would 'do the job'?

I like Ruby. It manages to be simple and terse at the same time. I can't write Perl without a reference book on the desk, whereas in Ruby I can generally guess methods I don't know and they will work.

I learned about closures through learning Ruby, and now it is frustrating to use a language without them. It's certainly not the only language with closures but they are a central part of Ruby style.

I also use Rails for a few personal projects, but I know nothing about Mason so I can't compare.

The whole JRuby thing with Sun backing it is worth watching too.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Is there ever a practical reason for learning a programming language when you already know several that would 'do the job'?

Sure, if a new language would 'do the job' better than the ones you know. Where 'better' means you could do it more quickly, or it would be more maintainable, or more efficient, or whatever.