Offensive blurb

“Macs are popular because they make computing ``not hurt.’’ Ruby is popular because it makes programming ``not hurt.’’ Cocoa is a huge pile of code Apple created to make programming on the Mac hurt less—but you have to use the Objective-C language, which… kind of hurts.”

Just because Bruce Tate is a jerk doesn’t mean every Ruby book has to insult every language it’s trying to convert people away from. This blurb is a great way to drive away everyone who might otherwise be interested.

EPIC FAIL.

I think it’s supposed to be mildly humorous, hence the ”...kind of”.

I also feel that calling some person disconnected with the issue a “jerk” is not really doing your cause much good :)

However, far be it for us to cause offense to Mac developers, given that we run our lives on your software. We’ve changed the blurb.

Dave

Thank you.

I mentioned Tate because his “I love Ruby and hate everything else” book, misleadingly titled “Beyond Java”, really set the tone for a lot of the following Ruby-to-everyone-else communications, and his continuing “behavioral issues” online and at conferences still poison the well with a lot of programmers…

Thanks for not being that guy.

The attempt at humor was my fault. Sorry.

Hey, it’s my first post! After 15 years of software development (and using C and C++ for a number of years in the process), I’m learning Objective-C. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen before. It hurts. So I see the humor, and it makes me feel like the author understands my pain.

I’m also a hardcore PHP developer, and after spending the past year reading book after book on Ruby, I had to develop some very thick skin!! My lack of offense here may be because of this experience.

Great work on the book as a whole!