Motivation

So, why am I doing this?

I’ve been using Java for nine years now. I never used it exclusively – I wrote lots of code with C, C++ and Delphi, but Java’s always been my bread and butter. Nevertheless, I’ve become more and more disenchanted with it lately. I’m going to skip the Java rants though – an entire book was written about Java’s problems, and Bruce Tate writes better than I do.

Anyway, not long ago I finally took the plunge and learned Python (this Paul Graham article was the catalyst – after all, I like to program, and I wasn’t satisfied with the languages I already knew). Soon enough I was asking myself what took me so long. I fell in love (Noa - don’t worry, not the way I love you). After the initial crush passed, I decided to look at Ruby as well. I liked it even better. I became convinced that Java’s days are numbered. The question’s not if, it’s when (and with Rails the latter question may have been answered already).

Obviously, I began evangelizing dynamic languages around the office, with some success (i.e. getting some Java programmers to play with Python or Ruby in their spare time).

Around that time I started writing the spec for this new project. However, when I suggested that we try something other than Java, I quickly learned that management would never buy it. To paraphrase the IBM maxim: nobody ever got fired for using Java…

What I realized soon enough was that I don’t stand a fighting chance with Ruby as long as I can’t show that it’s already been used successfully in serious projects in serious enterprises. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any references. I decided to be that reference for others, and here we are…