[MacRuby-devel] Tyro Needs Ruby vs. O-C Advice

[Laurent Sansonetti]

Hi Bryan,

I see that many people responded to that thread, but I would like to still add the following points:

1) MacRuby can't be used for iOS programming at this time.

2) In order to fully program in Objective-C, you must know C first. If you're a seasoned C programmer, picking Objective-C should just take a couple days (maximum). Otherwise, you will have to learn C before, which can be challenging, especially if you come from PHP. Ruby, the language MacRuby implements, is _much_ easier to learn. Using Cocoa from MacRuby does not require you to master Objective-C, you basically just need to learn about Objective-C classes and methods and how to use them in Ruby, then you can spend the rest of your time learning the Cocoa APIs. There is plenty of documentation available, including 2 books (currently being written) on this very specific topic :)

HTH,
Laurent

On Mar 30, 2011, at 8:43 PM, Bryan Harrison wrote:

> I've decided to use an upcoming sabbatical to teach myself OS X and iOS programming.  My background includes OS X systems administration and web development, mostly using the Apache/MySQL/PHP model.  I'm familiar with OOP concepts and have trifled with any number of languages from C to AppleScript, but am not fluent in any object oriented language.  I've been exploring Xcode 4 for a week and feel conversant with the IDE if not yet able to accomplish anything with it.
> 
> So…  I understand that Cocoa is a given, but today's million dollar question is Objective-C or MacRuby?  I'm a blank slate with regard to both and so could use some good advice.  For example…
> 
> What are the advantages of MacRuby over Objective-C?
> 
> What are the advantage of O-C over Ruby?
> 
> Is Xcode's support for O-C significantly better than it's handling of Ruby?  Do I care?
> 
> At this point I'm primarily interested in OS X development, but iOS clearly needs to run a close second.  What's the current status of Ruby development for iOS and is it likely to go anywhere in the nearish future?
> 
> Any thoughts on the longer-term prospects of either language?
> 
> Any thoughts from anybody will be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bryan
> _______________________________________________
> MacRuby-devel mailing list
> MacRuby-devel at lists.macosforge.org
> http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/macruby-devel

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.macosforge.org/pipermail/macruby-devel/attachments/20110406/540e9701/attachment.html>