Panasonic Youth rob sanheim writes about software, business, ruby, music, stuff and things

More on Java/Ruby Communities, or Chill Out: Its Just Code Dude

I think the point of my original post on the java and ruby communities was kinda missed.

Criticism is great for any community, and if you are really passionate about something you should constantly question it and look for crappy things to call out. I agree with that 100%. However, there is a huge difference between constructive criticism and just being vulgar and nasty for no good reason. Hani’s bathroom humor is funny maybe the first two times you read it, then you realize it gets old very quickly and so loses its effectiveness. Fewer synonyms for feces and more constructive ideas and suggestions would help far more with the projects and people he targets.

I see a lot of people say ruby has over-zealous fans and what not, but if you are actually in the community thats not the case. Read #ruby-lang or follow the blogs - some examples: discussion of the issues with lack of unicode support, and frustration with finding a path for 2.0; the growing strain from newbies brought on by Rails; anger over the way the recent Rails security hole was handled, followed by a quick response from Rails core. I’ve even seen recommendations of java or .net on ruby-lang for certain things that ruby doesn’t do well, “hyper enthusiasts” be damned. Yes, there are a lot of newcomers who get blown away by Rails and can barely contain their excitement, but don’t blame the core ruby community for that.

I love that the Ruby community is friendly, nice, and quirky, versus bitter, jaded, and angry. The reminder “Matz is nice, so we are nice” tends to keep arguments on ruby-lang from getting into nasty personal battles. To be fair, Java has great places like javaranch that are very friendly, but they seem to be the exception rather then the norm.

I appreciate having a friendly atmosphere for my coding, both in work and play, as there is enough general nastiness and hate in the “real-world” to deal with. Programming isn’t life or death, so lets not treat it as such.

I think for a lot of people, it goes beyond the “its just code” because they are passionate and concerned about their own well-beings (their jobs) and also want to excel the industry they’re in. Just like a physicist may want to see quantum physics expand peoples thinking and awareness of the interconnectedness of everything (i know im sounding largely philo here), a rubyist often wants people to see the simplicity and beauty in the most analytical of things, programming. Just my thoughts on it. And yea, the friendly atmosphere is great.
- ben @ http://rubyonrailsblog.com/

Ben: I agree, passion is required if you are going to excel at anything, coding including.

You can be passionate and yet still have an open mind, and vent disagreements or displeasure in a civil manner, is all I’m trying to say. =)