Ruby

Ruby is the newest and fastest growing programming language, invented by Yukihiro Matsumoto (“Matz“), and is catching on like wildfire.

I’ve been coding in Java, Perl, C, C++… and I think Ruby is the biggest leap in the evolution of programming languages since a long time. Suppose you take the most experienced Java developers, ask them what there frustrations with Java are, what can be changed, how it can be improved — you’ll get Ruby.

It has the object-orientedness of Java (and does it the right way), the expressiveness of Perl, and the ease of Python. The best way to describe Ruby is “elegant”, and most importantly is that Ruby complements Agile Software Development. I don’t think anyone in their right minds who has worked on Java/J2EE projects can say the same about that.

Have worked with both Java and Ruby, I can tell you without hesitation that Ruby increasing productivity by at least 40% (and that’s big savings) compared with Java. And have no doubt that it will gain rapid adoption in the IT industry, and wouldn’t be surprised if J2EE becomes the legacy code of the past.

Links

• Ruby Site
• Try Ruby – very nice intro for newbies.
• The Ruby Book – the book that started it all.