Comment by Hnus

I had a good background in C++ programming before switching to ruby. At first, I was terrified of the lack of strict typing, but after using it for a while, I realized my concern wasn't that warranted. For me it is about the tradeoff of dealing with types vs productivity. Sure I occasionally get bit by a random "method not defined for nil" error, but it is usually very easy to fix, and I don't run into the issue very often. With ruby, and especially rails, it is about the productivity gains. I can simply accomplish much more in less time and fewer lines of code than I would in other languages/frameworks. Not only am I writing fewer lines of code (usually), the language is very expressive without being overly cryptic. The code is more readable, and to me that results in better maintainability. The strong community and ecosystem emphasis that is put on testing, also leads to more resilient and much more maintainable code.

Absolutely. I enjoy it so much that I wonder "do people actually NOT enjoy writing Ruby?" It's usually the first tool I pull out of the toolbox for DSLs, scripts, spikes, one-offs and the like. A lot of the time, the project will happily stay in Ruby unless there's a good reason to use something else. And then I move it - horses for courses.

I programmed professionally in C, C++, C#, Deplhi, and a few other languages well before I had even heard of Ruby.

Yes, love it. Rewritten large parts of my stack in it (editor, shell, font renderer, terminal, window manager, file manager)

I started from a background of heavy C++ use, including a lot of template metaprogramming. Convincing me to even give Ruby a chance took a lot, but once I'd tried it I abandoned C++ pretty much immediately, and don't miss it.

What an odd question lol. Yes, people like writing in Ruby. I’m one of the. Switched from C# in 2016.

I love Rails, its been my to-go framework for reference. But I could never get as confortable with Ruby as writing JS or PHP. I do not know the reason.

I spent more of my life that I would like to admit learning and writing Rust. I still build all of my web applications in almost pure Ruby these days. Speed of thought to action is simply unparalleled and it turns out in most situations that was the most important factor.

I do. It's a whole thing that get you down to writing your business logic in an expressive way very easily. Framework (Rails) helps, yes, but even pure Ruby can be nice. I've written a second time accuracy simulator for cars and chargers in a EV charging stations in pure Ruby, that was fast to iterate around and pleasant to write.

The ecosystem, toolchain and all do a lot. It is really missed when I do other languages, and I wish to find the same way of developing elsewhere. I currently do C for embedded in an horrible IDE, and I want to bang my head against the table each time I had to click on something on the interface.

(btw Python is a nightmare for me)

Yes. I do. I enjoy ruby so much.

After 10 years working with Java. Now I dont wanna go back anymore.

It is about your taste and philosophy. I dont think it related skill issue.

yes, I have used a lot of languages, both static and dynamic, and ruby is one of the ones I love. maintaining large code bases is certainly not its forte, but in terms of expressing what you want in code it is like a tool that fits really well into my hand.

> Also, it seems like every Ruby programmer I know only ever uses other dynamic languages like Python. It’s never like they’re experts in C++ or something and then decided to start programming in Ruby.

Can you expand on what you’re saying here or why you’re raising this is as an issue with ruby the language or rails the library?

Yes, many people love programming in Ruby. It’s a matter of preference not some lack of technical merit. There are plenty of people who are well equipped in strongly typed languages that write in both. You might not know them but you really don’t have to look very far.

That's not a serious question. Of course people do. Your inability to understand the language does not impact anyone else other than yourself. This should go without saying.

I'm also an expert in C, Go and JavaScript. Ruby is an excellent language and the smalltalk paradigm has some real strengths especially for duck typed systems. The only reason I don't use it more often is because it is slow for the type of work I'm doing recently.

It was amazing for web work and it's fantastic for writing small little utility scripts.

A open distaste for things does not make you sophisticated or smart. You're not in any category of high repute when you do this.