Advantages of Ruby over Java

[sumeet gupta]

Hi Friends,

What do you think about advantages of ruby over java. Can I Opt ruby over java??

[JohnnyBusca]

I really like the dynamic nature of Ruby.
It's really suitable for DSL..

Example:
For fans of Tenacious D: http://judofyr.net/posts/tribute.html

[Jason Mayer]

If those (the dynamic nature and being good for dsls) are the only things going for Ruby, then groovy might be a better recommendation. Java to Groovy is a pretty much instant transition, whereas there is a (slight) learning curve for Ruby.

    
</two-cents>

That said, I really like Ruby and find it a joy to program in, even if these days I'm doing more groovy work.

[Nick Plante]

Personally I think your choice of a language comes down to many factors. For me, Ruby is probably the most fun I've had developing in any language, and that means a lot. I've also received dramatic productivity boosts since moving over. There are certainly a few things that aren't perfect, but that's true of any language.

If you're coming from a Java background and interested in getting your feet wet with Ruby you may also want to take a look at JRuby. It runs in the JVM, can leverage existing Java classes, and deployment will be familiar -- it can be packaged and served as a WAR. And yes, it can run Rails.

Unfortunately I haven't had the time to play around with Groovy, so I can't make an informed comparison. I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on the matter though!

[sumeet gupta]

HI,

I m pretty new to ruby.Can anyone refer me some books for jruby?

[Nick Plante]

Although I haven't personally read it, Ola Bini's JRuby on Rails book might be a good start. I actually have a copy but just haven't found the time to dig in!

http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590598814

[Nikos Pougounias]

Ruby has some features that a Java developer may well appreciate.

Example 1: Everything is an object

# This is a valid statement in Ruby
1.class

Example 2: Everything is a method: new, for loop, iterator, instanceof etc.

# new is a static method of Object
cat = Cat.new

Example 3: Relaxed syntax

# These statements are identical
cat = Cat.new
cat = Cat.new()
cat = Cat.new();

Example 4: Easy to remember API

name = "Nikos"
# These statements both return 5
name.size
name.length

Example 5: More compact code

// This is a for loop in Java
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
}
 
# This is a for loop in Ruby
100.times { |i|   
}

Example 5: Every instance variable is by default private

Example 6: Define default values to method arguments

and many more.

I do agree with Nick that Ruby is fun!