I taken time to absorb the feedback, from this lively thread
which I originated.
> Can anybody point me to an on-line minimal formal
> syntax for ruby, so as to not rely on the chatty tutors.
> We want a train-time-table format; not a novel.
Clifford Heath wrote:-
No such syntax description exists. Even if it did, a syntax
directed editor probably wouldn't work very well for Ruby.
OK, a syntax directed editor is too much like AI: can guarantee to
give you the 7th root of 143 within 1% acuracy. Let's rather think
of an 'expert system', which helps you. Eg. syntax colouring which
I've already got, helps a lot. Would it be viable to have a library
menu of 'primitive' constructs, or would you soon find that you
MUST have various 'irregular' features to build anything?
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> The superficial simplicity is deceptive.
The absence of explicit form (like missing method-call parentheses, for
example) allows the syntax to be used to construct very natural and
fluid DSLs, but opens up significant complexity in parsing.
Yes the 'fluid' 'close to natural language' is exactly what I oppose.
FWIW, I've been in the industry for 30 years, and have led teams that
built software products that are still deployed on millions of enterprise
machines around the globe, running corporations with household names.
Nobody's denying that you're brilliant.
When I chose to learn Ruby (in 2002), I felt a renewed joy in programming
that I hadn't felt in years.
I believe you. You needed a challenge. Some people buy a motorbike,
or a skate-board.
That was the experience of many here, BTW.
Call it childish if you will, but that's an ignorant point of view, and a
completely gratuitous comment, coming from an outsider.
Child-like might be good.
You'll not get the truth from INSIDE incestious back-patting.
I've experience a similar clash of views: with my want for formal &
away from natural language, I'm a heavy user of `mc`, which is the
*nix clone/improvement of a DOS utility. It's menu-driven: almost
spreadsheet-like. Many competent 'users' skoff at it. Because instead
of 'looking and pressing one key', like you do when you get in an
elevator/lift, they want the pleasure of 'writing a near english
message to the little man in the box' - aka 'command line...'.
BTW what did you think of the Exel/M$/space-flight man's
writeup on <the disadvantage of many degrees of freedom>?
Thanks.