Frequent technical author Bruce Tate's latest title "From Java to Ruby" takes a look at moving to Ruby from the eyes of a Java manager, for building database-backed Internet applications. It is interesting to note that this is not a book for the developer learning the language differences between Ruby and Java. Instead it is for managers and consultants wanting to introduce Ruby into their organizations. The title features interviews of Ruby customers and developers detailing not only their successes but their failures. It also walks throught lifecycle of prototype, ramp up, and production and deployment.
Gregg Sporar recently reviewed the title on his blog and came away with both positive and negative impressions. According to Greg, the first part of the book takes the tone that "if Java is not your problem, then moving away from it is not going to solve your problem," covering good common-sense project management ideas. "A good deal of the rest of the book explains why Java is broken and why Ruby is the solution."
Greg then goes to pull out important areas which are 'not' covered in the book, hinting that these are in fact important areas where Java itself is strong and perhaps less tends to be said in the Rails community as a whole:Gregg concludes:
- Migrating from one version of RoR to another...How do I move my application from RoR version X.Y to version X.Z? How painful will that be?
- How easy is it to troubleshoot problems and monitor performance in production?
- Level of support for internationalization and accessibility.
It is a quick read (150 pages) and the price is right (about $19 from amazon.com). There are some rough spots where I wish he had provided more details to backup some of his somewhat glib statements, but in general I thought the book was worthwhile ... The most important topic that did not get covered, though, was what I refer to as "the anti-tipping point." Tate recognizes that Ruby could end up being the next Smalltalk, which he describes as not necessarily a bad thing.Javaworld.com today also posted a 'Ruby for the Java world' Article.