[PLUG-Devel] Interesting article about C++ vs Java vs Python vs Ruby

[Alan Dayley]

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Darrin Chandler wrote:
> 
> Yes, it was a nice article. I also liked the linked (Bruce Eckel
> http://www.mindview.net/WebLog/log-0025) article about strong vs. weak
> typed languages.
> 
> I cut my teeth on a strongly typed language (Turbo Pascal), and I always
> felt C came up short, and I've always felt the same about interpreted
> languages. C++ almost seemed like a punishment to programmers rather
> than a useful application of strong typing. But Eckel makes some very
> good points for weak typing. It'll be a while before it settles in
> completely, but I think my mind is changed.
> 
> Regarding the original article, I think the comparison is a bit shallow:
> it's very difficult to compare languages until you really grasp the
> idiom. A really good comparison would be to hand off the task to a C++
> guru, a Python guru, a Java guru, and a Ruby guru, and then compare the
> results. These results are a bit like where MS looked at server
> performance of Windows/IIS/MSSQL vs. LAMP (they had a totally tweaked MS
> box and a stock Linux install). That said, the article was still
> worthwhile for me.

(In case someone missed it, the article in discussion is here:
http://www.dmh2000.com/cjpr/index.shtml)

I am going through the article now.  It looks like an excellent spring
board for a Devel Meeting.  The article itself is obviously not laid out
as a presentation, however, it could make for a good discussion.

We could do it for the Thursday meeting.  I'd be happy to moderate but
we will need at least one experienced user of each of the languages in
the audience to "defend" the language they know.  I don't know them
enough to be a defender for any one of them.  (I code 'C' all the time,
you see.  ;^))

The other drawback is that a quick no-options compile attempt of the C++
source with gcc renders errors.  (It is written with MS Visual C++ in
mind though I don't know how much of the code is MS specific.)  This
fact is not a show-stopper per se.

Do we want to discuss this Thursday?

Who wants to sign up to be the defender of:
C++?
Java?
Python?
Ruby?

Alan
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