To the tune of "Torn Between Two Lovers":
Torn between two languages, both of which are awesome tools
Lovin' both of you is breakin' all the rules
Torn between two incredibly awesome scripting languages, I'm startin' to drool
Using you both is breakin' all the rules
Is freedom of choice wonderful or a curse? I do a lot of scripting at my day job. Through the years, I've gone through what will probably seem a somewhat familiar progression of scripting languages. Started out with Tcl, moved to Perl when I began to do some serious text munging, moved back to Tcl/Tk when I needed to do some gui stuff, jumped to Python as I began to learn object oriented programming, told Python I needed more space and moved in with Ruby when I needed to do more gui stuff and wanted to use FXRuby.
And that's where I stand now, Torn Between Two Scripting Languages. Python and Ruby are both so damn attractive that I can't commit to one of them. I don't want to settle down into a monogamous programming relationship. I mean, if you have Grace Kelly on one arm and Maureen O'Hara on the other (I'm old school), should you really have to give one of them up?
Why can't my boss understand this? But no, he has to lecture me about the dangers of "foolin' around" with too many languages. "Oh sure", he says, "you're having fun now juggling two beautiful languages in the air. But how long can you keep living two lives? Sooner or later you are going to slip up and make a mistake. My god, man, what if you start leaving off the 'end' in your if statements? What if you forget that indentation DOES matter?! For the love of all that is sacred and holy, think of the programs!"
My boss was always a little melodramatic.
Anyway, I don't know why I'm typing this up. I just finished a major update to KirbyBase and I think I'm a little punch drunk. I have been spending a lot of time with Ruby lately and working on KirbyBase caused me to dive back into Python. Why do these two languages have to be so freakin' good! I know a lot of people see big differences in the languages, but I'm not one of them. I don't think I am a smart enough programmer to understand or ever be bothered by some of the more subtle or deeper differences that some people have pointed out. Ah, ignorance is bliss.
Well, as long as I can keep my boss from finding out that I am in this programming love triangle, I think I will probably stay happily enmeshed in my little soap opera.
Well, I think I will go now and listen to my Captain & Tenille records...why are you looking at me like that. I'm a happily married man with four kids. I like football and guns...really, I do!
Under the influence of some kind of strange force and will probably be embarrassed when he snaps out of it,
Jamey Cribbs -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
