# "stereotyping"
**URL:** https://rubytalk.org/t/stereotyping/8933
**Category:** ruby-talk
**Created:** [20 November 2003 02:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/stereotyping/8933 "2003-11-20T02:54:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Michael\_Campbell1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Michael_Campbell1)
#### Post date: [20 November 2003 02:54 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/stereotyping/8933/1 "2003-11-20T02:54:25Z")
> Well, I’m a senior developer/team leader. I have been considering
> moving
> the team from “c” to ruby. However I have doubts that the
> lower-level
> programmers can handle development without any type-checking
> support. So
> we will probably move to either Java or c#.
What do you think you need to protect them /from/, exactly?
> **···**
>
> * * *
>
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---
### Author:  [@Simon\_Kitching](https://rubytalk.org/u/Simon_Kitching)
#### Post date: [20 November 2003 05:40 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/stereotyping/8933/2 "2003-11-20T05:40:04Z")
No, it’s more to protect me!
It’s to protect me from questions like:
“Hey, what kind of object is this method expecting? It isn’t documented
anywhere and I can’t understand the source code”.
“Hey, I’m getting this message from the XXX library about do\_foo not
existing on parameter bar. I must be doing something wrong. How do I fix
it?”
“Hey, I’m supposed to fix this library method. What parameters are
people allowed to pass to it?”
and the corollary question:
“Hey, your team isn’t making much progress on this project, despite this
Ruby language you suggested. Why shouldn’t I fire you?”
> **···**
>
> On Thu, 2003-11-20 at 15:54, Michael Campbell wrote:
>
> > > Well, I’m a senior developer/team leader. I have been considering
> > > moving
> > > the team from “c” to ruby. However I have doubts that the
> > > lower-level
> > > programmers can handle development without any type-checking
> > > support. So
> > > we will probably move to either Java or c#.
> >
> > What do you think you need to protect them /from/, exactly?
---
### Author:  [@Austin\_Ziegler2](https://rubytalk.org/u/Austin_Ziegler2)
#### Post date: [20 November 2003 06:27 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/stereotyping/8933/3 "2003-11-20T06:27:50Z")
> > Simon Kitching wrote:
> >
> > > Well, I’m a senior developer/team leader. I have been
> > > considering moving the team from “c” to ruby. However I have
> > > doubts that the lower-level programmers can handle development
> > > without any type-checking support. So we will probably move to
> > > either Java or c#.
> > > What do you think you need to protect them /from/, exactly?
> > > No, it’s more to protect me!
There are alternative mechanisms for doing that, though.
> It’s to protect me from questions like:
>
> “Hey, what kind of object is this method expecting? It isn’t
> documented anywhere and I can’t understand the source code”.
>
> “Hey, I’m getting this message from the XXX library about do\_foo
> not existing on parameter bar. I must be doing something wrong.
> How do I fix it?”
If this is in a core or extension library, this is a problem. If,
however, it’s in a library written by your team, this is a huge
problem. Some of this could be fixed by tests.
> “Hey, I’m supposed to fix this library method. What parameters are
> people allowed to pass to it?”
Where’s the design document? Where’s the test cases? Why isn’t the
library method documented in the first place?
> and the corollary question:
> “Hey, your team isn’t making much progress on this project,
> despite this Ruby language you suggested. Why shouldn’t I fire
> you?”
I think that’s an unnecessary fear. Honestly.
-austin
> **···**
>
> On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 14:40:04 +0900, Simon Kitching wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 2003-11-20 at 15:54, Michael Campbell wrote:
> > –
> > austin ziegler \* austin@halostatue.ca \* Toronto, ON, Canada
> > software designer \* pragmatic programmer \* 2003.11.20
> > \* 01.22.39