removing Ruby success stories page from Ruby-lang.org

R

Rahul

The list of ruby success stories page in ruby-lang.org is really lame.

compared to python success stories link this looks very weak.

i think this should be removed till the list looks a bit more impressive
 
D

dblack

Hi --

The list of ruby success stories page in ruby-lang.org is really lame.

compared to python success stories link this looks very weak.

i think this should be removed till the list looks a bit more impressive

It's supposed to be informative, not impressive. Perhaps people can
report their success stories and the page can be updated.


David

--
Q. What is THE Ruby book for Rails developers?
A. RUBY FOR RAILS by David A. Black (http://www.manning.com/black)
(See what readers are saying! http://www.rubypal.com/r4rrevs.pdf)
Q. Where can I get Ruby/Rails on-site training, consulting, coaching?
A. Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypal.com)
 
G

Gregory Brown

The list of ruby success stories page in ruby-lang.org is really lame.

compared to python success stories link this looks very weak.

i think this should be removed till the list looks a bit more impressive

What would make it more impressive? I think this is a very subjective
topic, and I think comparisons between other languages are an
insufficient metric for determining whether the resource is helpful or
not.
 
J

Jeremy McAnally

Notable stories that should be added that I'm aware of:
- Amazon's UnSpun
- Ara Howard at the NOAA uses Ruby a lot

I don't think we need to dilute the page the way Python has done;
there are a lot of companies and people in there I've never heard of,
so their story means very little to me unless it's a tale of harrowing
programming adventure (which most of them aren't).

I think the page we have now is significant, but maybe needs to look
less like a list and more like a narrative outlining some of the
success stories. When I pop open both the Python and Ruby success
stories pages, all I see are links. I've looked at the Ruby one
before, but glossed over it because there was nothing compelling about
it. Maybe the content should stay but be presented in a more
interesting way?

--Jeremy

Hi --



It's supposed to be informative, not impressive. Perhaps people can
report their success stories and the page can be updated.


David

--
Q. What is THE Ruby book for Rails developers?
A. RUBY FOR RAILS by David A. Black (http://www.manning.com/black)
(See what readers are saying! http://www.rubypal.com/r4rrevs.pdf)
Q. Where can I get Ruby/Rails on-site training, consulting, coaching?
A. Ruby Power and Light, LLC (http://www.rubypal.com)


--
My free Ruby e-book:
http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/

My blogs:
http://www.mrneighborly.com/
http://www.rubyinpractice.com/
 
J

James Edward Gray II

Notable stories that should be added that I'm aware of:
- Amazon's UnSpun
- Ara Howard at the NOAA uses Ruby a lot

Interview those people, write up little blurbs for them, and I will
add them.

James Edward Gray II
 
T

Tom Pollard

Notable stories that should be added that I'm aware of:
- Amazon's UnSpun
- Ara Howard at the NOAA uses Ruby a lot

Google Sketchup is scriptable via Ruby, though I don't know if it's a
Ruby app per se. It's certainly the highest-profile app based on
Ruby that I've encountered.

Tom
 
J

James Britt

Jeremy McAnally wrote:
...
I think the page we have now is significant, but maybe needs to look
less like a list and more like a narrative outlining some of the
success stories. When I pop open both the Python and Ruby success
stories pages, all I see are links. I've looked at the Ruby one
before, but glossed over it because there was nothing compelling about
it. Maybe the content should stay but be presented in a more
interesting way?

What is the purpose of having these at all?
 
R

Rimantas Liubertas

The method works. I am using PickAxe as my reference.
I don't recall see any thing stating you could assign values in an array
to variables by separating the variables by commas on the leftside of
the
assignment statement. I just want to know which book or reference
should I use to
understand why assignments can be made in this way?
Or am I just seeing a side effect of my poor coding skills?

I guess you are seeing the effect of not reading the book carefully enough.
PickAxe, 2nd edition (paper version):

Page 91 'Assignment'
Page 92 'Parallel Assignment'
Page 338 'More on Assignment'
Page 340 'Parallel Assignment'
 
J

Jan Svitok

I create a small method

def counting(p1,p2)
p1 = p1 + 1
p2 = p2 + 2
return p1,p2
end

A bit offtopic: you can shorten this to:

def counting(p1,p2)
p1 += 1 # x += y is the same as x = x + y
p2 += 2
return p1,p2
end

or

or even

def counting(p1,p2)
return p1 + 1, p2 + 2
end
sum-by-1s=0
sum-by-2s=0
while line = gets
# need driver test the method
line=line.chop
sum-by-1s, sum-by-2s = counting(sum-by-1s,sum-by-2s)
end

I don't think sum-by-1s is a good variable name. You can't use - in a
name. It's reserved for minus. Names are made of A..Z, a..z, 0..9, @
and _.
The method works. I am using PickAxe as my reference.
I don't recall see any thing stating you could assign values in an array
to variables by separating the variables by commas on the leftside of
the
assignment statement. I just want to know which book or reference
should I use to
understand why assignments can be made in this way?
Or am I just seeing a side effect of my poor coding skills?

This is normal. See the link below. It's used in block parameters as well

i.e.: you can do [[1,2],[3,4]].each {|a| ... } or [[1,2],[3,4]].each
{|a,b| ... }
in the former case you'll get [1,2] and [3,4] for a, in the latter
a=1,3 and b=2,4.

http://ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/html/tut_expressions.html#UC
 
G

Gregory Brown

I think the primary purpose is to sell the language to a complete layman.

A valid question is whether that is worthwhile or not. Of course,
it's a good thing to point a layman to if said layman is a potential
employer and you want to work with Ruby.

That having been said, creating your own mini-success story is much
more effective.

So I'm not really sure how I feel on the matter.
 
J

Jeremy McAnally

I'll see if Ara and his friend are interested in an interview, but I
don't know anyone on the UnSpun team. I would be interested in
interviewing them if I can get some contact information. I'll also
contact the team from Steve Case's startup...

I think these sorts of things are what sell to people in management
honestly. For example, I've been working on selling Ruby/Rails to my
superiors here on campus. They're very security and stability
conscience, so mentioning anything other than PHP for the website and
Java for application software is pretty much out of the question. The
first question out of their mouth was "Who else is using it? We're
not going to use it unless it's been proven." Point blank.

Now, if I were a ruby newbie who just learned the language and wanted
to use it, then I would've been stuck. Fortunately, I'm fairly in
touch with where Ruby is being used and could provide some example
that yes, real people use Ruby. It's not just a Japanese guy and a
few startups that dont' have a real product. Ruby has proven/is
proving itself in a lot of places. Having this page gives people who
aren't that plugged into what's going on that same sort of
information. I think it's pretty important; I'm just not sure that a
fat list of links is the best way to present it.

Even further, some developers might be curious about Ruby, but be
discouraged if theres no evidence of it actually being used. I hear
this a lot from people who are interested in learning laguages like
Haskell, but don't see any practical value in it since they're not
going to use it outside of a hobby.

--Jeremy

P.S. - My superiors bought it and Ruby powers a lot of things around
here. Now...I just need to get hold of the website... ;)

Jeremy McAnally wrote:
...

What is the purpose of having these at all?


--
James Britt

"Judge a man by his questions, rather than his answers."
- Voltaire


--
My free Ruby e-book:
http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/

My blogs:
http://www.mrneighborly.com/
http://www.rubyinpractice.com/
 
J

James Edward Gray II

I think these sorts of things are what sell to people in management
honestly. For example, I've been working on selling Ruby/Rails to my
superiors here on campus.

Awesome, then you are the perfect guy to help us improve this section
of the site.
I think it's pretty important; I'm just not sure that a
fat list of links is the best way to present it.

I'm sure we would be open to new ideas. Mock something up and show
us. If you find something we can all get behind, I will put it up.

James Edward Gray II
 
G

Giles Bowkett

I'd suggest a "Frameworks" category for that list. (And plus one on
adding Amazon, btw.)
 
R

Rob Muhlestein

Jeremy said:
I think these sorts of things are what sell to people in management
honestly. For example, I've been working on selling Ruby/Rails to my
superiors here on campus. They're very security and stability
conscience, so mentioning anything other than PHP for the website and
Java for application software is pretty much out of the question. The
first question out of their mouth was "Who else is using it? We're
not going to use it unless it's been proven." Point blank.

I whole-heartedly agree. Success stories like one I heard on
http://podcast.rubyonrails.org/programs/1/episodes/josh_shairbaum_and_dan_manges
about Ruby being used in JPMorgan Chase are just the thing we need more
of. That and solid, impartial code reviews based on benchmarks and
security audits. Anyone up for hosting a break-into-my-rails-server
contest?

There is another rather large company that won an innovation award
recently and Ruby was a key part of it. I have been looking all over
for that again. I was hoping to find it on the Ruby success stories
page but to no avail.

To what degree does blogger.com use Ruby? Our many of our blogs
actually powered there by rails on the backend? I've read the following
quote a dozen times wondering that:

"After researching the market, Ruby on Rails stood out as the
best choice. We have been very happy with that decision. We
will continue building on Rails and consider it a key business
advantage."
-Evan Williams, Creator of Blogger and ODEO

Having a success stories page is something of a two-bladed sword,
however. If it isn't kept current or lacks content having the page can
leave one with a "that's it" feeling. Many of the very large successes
within the enterprise, I fear, will never be outed simple because of
the competitive and legal encumberances most enterprise Ruby users have
to face. I'm betting there are a lot of international success stories
also that are not being noticed.

Perl provides an interesting comparison here. It didn't and doesn't
need a success stories page because it has always held so much together
that is hard to quantify. Unfortunately, like Ruby, I bet some large
companies would even be ashamed to admit they are using either of these
dynamic languages the way they are. It's like everyone's dirty little
secret. Somehow they are still falsely viewed as toy languages or
something to glue together *real* applications. Ruby and Perl users
seem to be fighting those same stigmas. Python, however, seems to have
somehow overcome that in my experience, although I haven't a clue how.

It amazes me that people see PHP as a *stable* language, anyone who
does has never watched the 1.4 stuff put memory through the roof. Same
goes for Java, whose now long corrected crappy JVM burned me real bad
in 97 with faulty hand-off of threads when run from a servlet engine.
In those cases the marketing train seems to run right over any
concerns. Companies are more than happy to boast about Java because of
the *perception* of stability and maturity it enjoys, which after some
10+ years of corporate adoption and tweeking it may finally deserve
despite how horrible the language itself can be. [Can you believe there
are still no closures? And generics? What's the deal, trying to be a
pseudo-dynamic language? Although I must disclose I only know generics
from reading and hearing about them.]

One thing I think all the communities will agree on though, Ruby is
here to stay in a big way.

Could it be the one true language bringing balance and restoring peace
to the smalltalkers, lispers, pylons, perl mongers and java drones?
Nah. But you can't ignore the download numbers, usage statistics,
newsgroup postings, and anecdotal water-cooler research. Ruby is
infecting intelligent minds everywhere. ;-)
 
J

James Britt

Jeremy said:
I think these sorts of things are what sell to people in management
honestly. For example, I've been working on selling Ruby/Rails to my
superiors here on campus. They're very security and stability
conscience, so mentioning anything other than PHP for the website and
Java for application software is pretty much out of the question. The
first question out of their mouth was "Who else is using it? We're
not going to use it unless it's been proven." Point blank.

They don't trust their technical people to make assessments of
development tools? PHP + security concerns = severe cognitive dissonance.
Now, if I were a ruby newbie who just learned the language and wanted
to use it, then I would've been stuck.

But in such a case you probably *shouldn't* using Ruby for production
development.

Fortunately, I'm fairly in
touch with where Ruby is being used and could provide some example
that yes, real people use Ruby. It's not just a Japanese guy and a
few startups that dont' have a real product. Ruby has proven/is
proving itself in a lot of places. Having this page gives people who
aren't that plugged into what's going on that same sort of
information. I think it's pretty important; I'm just not sure that a
fat list of links is the best way to present it.

Even further, some developers might be curious about Ruby, but be
discouraged if theres no evidence of it actually being used. I hear
this a lot from people who are interested in learning laguages like
Haskell, but don't see any practical value in it since they're not
going to use it outside of a hobby.


People interested in the craft of software development will learn
languages for the sake of learning new concepts. I'd much rather see a
slower growth of the Ruby community than try to draw people in who will
only pursue Ruby if they think it offers gainful employment or some
"non-hobby" use.

Trying to "sell" a language by tossing out showpiece success stories or
prospects of corporate employment is of limited value. People so
persuaded by this are just as likely to jump to the next New Hot Thing
in a year or so.

Why be concerned over Ruby's popularity? Or, at least, why be concerned
with making Ruby popular among people who don't have the wherewithal or
motivation to properly assess it? Will it cultivate a strong, lasting
Ruby community?

Someone choosing Ruby for production development had better be sure of
the value and risks, which are not apparent from one-page success
stories. I'd prefer someone not use Ruby at all rather than use Ruby
with mistaken expectations, fail, then blame the language.
 
C

Carlos

2007-01-05 23.12 CET] said:
I don't think sum-by-1s is a good variable name. You can't use - in a
name. It's reserved for minus. Names are made of A..Z, a..z, 0..9, @
and _.

...unless you set $KCODE. Then ¿almost? everything above \177 is allowed.

$ ruby -Ku -e 'sumâ€byâ€1s, sum by 2s = 1,2; p sumâ€byâ€1s, sum by 2s'
1
2

--
 
M

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky

James said:
People interested in the craft of software development will learn
languages for the sake of learning new concepts. I'd much rather see
a slower growth of the Ruby community than try to draw people in who
will only pursue Ruby if they think it offers gainful employment or
some "non-hobby" use.

Trying to "sell" a language by tossing out showpiece success stories
or prospects of corporate employment is of limited value. People so
persuaded by this are just as likely to jump to the next New Hot Thing
in a year or so.

Why be concerned over Ruby's popularity? Or, at least, why be
concerned with making Ruby popular among people who don't have the
wherewithal or motivation to properly assess it? Will it cultivate a
strong, lasting Ruby community?

Someone choosing Ruby for production development had better be sure of
the value and risks, which are not apparent from one-page success
stories. I'd prefer someone not use Ruby at all rather than use Ruby
with mistaken expectations, fail, then blame the language.
Well put, James! I would like to add something, though. There seems to
be a fair amount of interest on this list, as could be expected, in
"selling Ruby". I spent ten years of my career in technology sales and
marketing, and if you haven't been there, it's really easy to assume
that what works for Ginsu knives or real estate or insurance also works
for something like enterprise infrastructure components, like web
frameworks, scripting languages, performance monitoring packages, or
servers.

I've already posted two excellent resources about sales in another
thread, but I think I'll repeat them here. Of all the thousands of books
about sales, these two authors are the closest I've found to "what
really works and why it works" for selling technology into the enterprise.

Sharon Drew Morgen: http://www.newsalesparadigm.com
Jeff Thull: http://www.primeresource.com/
 
M

Matthew Harris

Is there something wrong with people succeeding with Ruby, even in
the smallest way? It may seem so, but not all of us are in an epic
battle with the Python community. Just because NASA uses some Python
code, doesn't mean we are less superior in our own ways either. In
fact, "NASA uses Python!" seems more like a marketing thing, not a
motivation factor that inspires people with fun and successful
programming.
 
J

Jeremy McAnally

They don't trust their technical people to make assessments of
development tools? PHP + security concerns = severe cognitive dissonance.

You've obviously never worked in some of the places I've had to... =/

I don't think I've ever been in a place where management left me be
because they thought I knew what was better. Regardless of their
breadth of knowledge, they were willing to pay for what they knew, not
what I thought was best.

But in such a case you probably *shouldn't* using Ruby for production
development.

Then how do we get better? How do we gain applicable, real-world
programming skills if we never step out and say, "I'm going to use
this for something meaningful"?
[snipped a lot of good stuff]

Why be concerned over Ruby's popularity? Or, at least, why be concerned
with making Ruby popular among people who don't have the wherewithal or
motivation to properly assess it? Will it cultivate a strong, lasting
Ruby community?

Mostly because people interested in the craft need to pay bills. I'm
interested in the craft of software development, but I'm also
interested in being able to eat. I would rather spend my time
learning a langauge that is possibly useful to me in a work
environment AND enriching...they are not mututally exclusive concepts.
Someone choosing Ruby for production development had better be sure of
the value and risks, which are not apparent from one-page success
stories. I'd prefer someone not use Ruby at all rather than use Ruby
with mistaken expectations, fail, then blame the language.

Of course, but they need to know of the benefits. Some people simply
respond better to a narrative of someone else's success rather than
dry technical explanations (ie., my boss's couldnt care if Ruby has
metaprogramming and increases productivity; they want to know if
someone has been able to increase productivity first).

It's a sad environment to work in, I know, but it's not totally
uncommon for those of us who are not lucky enough to work in good jobs
or have the proper education to garner said occupation.

--Jeremy

--
My free Ruby e-book:
http://www.humblelittlerubybook.com/book/

My blogs:
http://www.mrneighborly.com/
http://www.rubyinpractice.com/
 
J

James Britt

Jeremy said:
Then how do we get better? How do we gain applicable, real-world
programming skills if we never step out and say, "I'm going to use
this for something meaningful"?

See rubyforge.org

When I started with Ruby in 2001 or so, I was coding Java, and some
Perl. There's no way I would have tried to get Ruby into a prime-time
slot without more experience. I was working at a company were tech
leads were paid lip service, and J2EE rules the day (partly due, I
think, to superficial "success stories" claiming vast gains).

So I started using Ruby for whatever I could think of that would be fun
and interesting, on my own time.

I left that job by the end of the year. I realize not everyone has that
option, but I knew that the company was not one of the things I had the
power to change, and life's too short to sit a cube and be bored.

[snipped a lot of good stuff]

Why be concerned over Ruby's popularity? Or, at least, why be concerned
with making Ruby popular among people who don't have the wherewithal or
motivation to properly assess it? Will it cultivate a strong, lasting
Ruby community?

Mostly because people interested in the craft need to pay bills. I'm
interested in the craft of software development, but I'm also
interested in being able to eat. I would rather spend my time
learning a langauge that is possibly useful to me in a work
environment AND enriching...they are not mututally exclusive concepts.

Of course; I'm in the same boat But I'm skeptical that it is the role
of ruby-lang.org to help people get work.

A year or two ago, Curt Hibbs started a "Why Ruby?" project on
rubyforge.org. It was largely a collection of presentations meant to
explain essential features of Ruby to developers and/or managers.

That collection was eventually moved over to ruby-doc.org. It's pretty
much remained unchanged since then. If Ruby advocacy is a useful
pursuit, it may be better served by its own site run by people with the
time and motivation to look after it.


--

James Britt

"Take eloquence and wring its neck."
- Paul Verlaine
 

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