Customer Reviews

From Java to Ruby: Things Every Manager Should Know (Pragmatic Programmers)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have migrated from language to language as the software landscape has changed over the years. Pascal to C to C++ to Foxpro to PowerBuilder to Java and now to Ruby. Can you imagine where I would be at this point in my career if I were trying to develop Web Based Database programs in Turbo Pascal?

It will be almost impossible to convince some Java programmers that Ruby on Rails and LAMP in general is a better platform to do anything compared to Java. After all they have invested *HUGE* in Java and it has and is putting food on their table. But perhpas this is a moot point as I an convinced the latest generation of programmers are embaracing dynamic languages such as Ruby and Python over the older generation languages such as C++ and Java. So it is more of a question of when this will happen then if this will happen.

Bruce has been a strong Java advocate and practitioner for many years, as have many of the most influentual people in the industry from highly respected organizations such Pragmatic Programmer Inc, ThoughtWorks, and O'Reilly. So when they collectively agree that Ruby and RoR is offering huge advantages over Java in many areas it pays to not only listen but give Ruby and Ruby on Rails (Ror) a decent try-out.

I will be shocked if any Java programmer truly investes one month learning Ruby on Rails and still believes it is not a more productive and agile environment. Skimming a book and making a conclusion is a weak argument indeed. In my case it took 6 months to feel comfortable with Java and 3 weeks to feel cofortable with Ruby. I have also trained other employees in both, and the learning ratio for the students was similar. So for new programmers, IMO, Ruby is a no brainer over Java. For experienced Java programmers - well they can continue to live with the pain if they wish.

More to the book:
1. It is geared towards managers and a such is an easy read. Most managers will not even pick up a 500 page book - they just don't have time. This book can be read in a day - I did it.
2. Bruce points out the strenghts and weakness of both Java and Ruby and admits that Ruby is not yet the answer for everything - but points out that it is already a lot better in several areas of development then Java.
3. He addresses risks in great detail, too often not on developers minds, but I guarantee it is on every good manager's mind.
4. He offers advice on how to evaluate Ruby for your organization.
5. He offers praticle steps to safely transition to Ruby and Ruby on Rails and how to get a proper infrastructure set up.

I highly recommend this book to those who want to quickly gain an understanding of why Ruby and RoR may be a good fit for their organization and as a guide to getiing the ball rolling. The investment in this book is he cheapest insurance I can think of to give an organization the right balance between risk and competitive edge for the future.

Not much objective information, and despite its claims to the contrary, this book really seems to be for those who have already decided to switch to Ruby and just want to convince themselves or someone else. Most of its "evidence" seemed to be anecdotal and personal experience.

Since I hadn't yet decided that I wanted to make that move, I was looking for more objective data. For that reason, I also couldn't get myself to read the second half, which is even more for those who have decided and want to know how to get started.

I think if you fit the target audience, it would be more helpful. Because of this, and because it did make some good points about tradeoffs and trends, I still felt it was a decent book. In fairness, its focus is probably consistent with the title and aim of the book, but I still felt the material had a pretty subjective feel to it.

I picked up this book because it isn't a technical reference or a tutorial. I am a developer, but have the opportunity to drive what technology is used for projects in-house. This book shows where Java (or C or other things) still have advantages over Ruby, but in most cases shows case studies of how Ruby or Rails is introduced into a development environment successfully. It also shows where Ruby is headed and talks about what potential there is for further improvement.
Although it is candid and unbiased, I did still find it a bit preachy in places, but that is basically what marketing is. Still, this is a book that I'm handing around to people in the office as it is easy to digest and will raise awareness of Ruby before we try a pilot.

The only complaint I have with this book is that it is difficult to listen objectively to an Evangelical. The title of the book and its presence in the PragProg Ruby series reveal Bruce's conclusion in most cases (although don't worry, he does agree that Java may still be your answer if your pain measurements align that way).

In practice, that is a minor complaint compared to the value of this book. The negative reviews below suggest that this is more of the same and I couldn't disagree more. "Beyond Java" was a book to open developer's eyes. This book is a nod to the decision making responsibilities of managers and senior engineers.

We can no longer pretend that the engineers can be left in the corner. In the face of agile methodologies, outsourcing and increased competitive pressure, we as an industry must have open channels of communication in order to succeed. This fits in nicely with some of the other recent PragProg titles such as Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt's "Practices of an Agile Developer : Working in the Real World".

In the real world, decisions have consequences, but as this book points out, so does indecision.

Bruce Tate and this book will not solve your problems (unless, perhaps if you hire him). But, by engaging managers into the discussion, he may just enable them to make the decisions that are right for them.

Read this book if you are an engineer and need to be reminded about things like risk and business value. Read this book also if you are intrigued but afraid by Ruby's perceived fringe status (it will embolden your efforts to master the language!).

Buy this book for your manager if you want him/her to see in you a proactive individual with an interest in reducing costs, increasing producitivity and the maturity to value a dialogue.

The back of the book says (in somewhat modest fonts) "Welcome to the revolution!". I would suggest that it should also say (in larger fonts) "Welcome to the conversation!"

I am primarily a Java developer, although I spent more than my fair share of time with management responsibilities and interfacing with 'senior management'. In recent months, I have been investigating the hype surrounding Ruby on Rails. I originally thought "Ruby isn't a 'real' language", and "Bruce is just trying to cash in on some controversy". I have now spent about 4 months doing some small rails projects, and I am looking for more opportunities to move my career in this direction. I am impressed, and I suggest any software engineer who primarily uses Java to create web-based CRUD applications to take a good look at rails.

But this book isn't really geared at developers... This book makes a compelling business case describing when to consider using ruby and rails in your organization, and when you shouldn't. For this reason, this is primarily a book that should be in the hands of a technical manager, people doing business development, etc. Ideally, those people steering the direction of work within your organization.

Don't get me wrong; a lot of developers will find this book interesting too, it just isn't a 'technical tome', and may feel disappointed by the lack of technical content. If you are a software engineer doing independent consulting, or helping to steer the technical direction of your organization, this book will give you the information you need to make compelling business-oriented points to those you need to convince. (This book will not teach you Ruby or Rails - there are other books for that).

I said above that I am "looking for more ways to move my career in this direction". This is the primary reason I like this book so much - on almost every page I see some tidbit I can use to help convince senior management to undertake pilot projects within our organization.

This book has some very strange logic. I found the analysis of the book to be very weak; Bruce Tate is taking his reasons to go to Ruby and assuming that his reasons work for other people. Here are some examples of the strange logic in the book.

On page 21 Bruce writes "Take management. If Ruby on Rails is five times more productive than Java for web-enabled database applications and a manager can handle ten employees, a typical manager can handle five times as many projects. With such savings, you could flatten your organization by removing one full level of management."

What twisted logic, first of all in the whole book Mr. Tate offers no proof that Ruby on Rails is 5 times faster than Java development. Second, the limiting factor for the number of projects is not the language chosen but other factors, such the complexity of the business problem being analyzed, getting broad agreement on requirements, and other organizational issues ... etc.

Even if you worked on a platform that was 5 times more productive that does not mean that you will be able to do five times more projects. Yes you can do more projects but the scaling will not be linear. This argument is like saying, if you have a 4 cpu system it is just as fast as 4 separate machines which is not true, it is faster than a single cpu machine but not as fast as 4 separate machines.

On Page 38 under the section titled productivity Bruce writes "You might wonder why I've gotten so passionate about Ruby so quickly. I've noticed a remarkable change in my programming practice since I picked up Ruby. With Java, I had long since quit doing live programming in my seminars. I rarely coded Java production applications. I had a difficult time keeping up with the rapidly churning state of the art in Java, because the choices were overwhelming me. I coded infrequently enough that basic problems tripped me up, often for hours at a time."

WOW! What an objective analysis of moving from Java to Ruby! Java is being applied to a huge range of problems far bigger than what Ruby is currently being applied to. If Ruby starts getting used on the same wide range of problems that Java is being applied to today then Mr. Tate might no longer be able to keep up with Ruby and he will write a new book form Ruby to ... Some new thing!

I bought this books hopping to get an objective analysis that summarizes all the key pros and cons of Ruby vs. Other programming environments. All I got was Mr. Tate's personal opinions and strange logical arguments.

Don't waste your money on this book. Do not give it your manager, if you care about you reputation. The book is not objective and does not provide a good analysis of transitioning from Ruby to Java. You are likely to hurt your chance of getting your manager to buy into Ruby if your give her this book.

It's not a difficult sell to get a technology geek to understand and try out a new language. But getting your management to buy into it can be nearly impossible. Bruce Tate makes a convincing case for moving to Ruby in the book From Java to Ruby - Things Every Manager Should Know.

Contents: Introduction; Pain; Establishing Your Reward; Pilot; On An Island; Bridges; Ramping Up; Risk; Bibliography

While a proponent of the Ruby language, Tate doesn't approach this from a "rah-rah" standpoint. It's written from a practical, pragmatic standpoint, one that is designed to show the pros and cons of using this tool over the "normal" option of Java. He talks about his journey from being a Java evangelist to becoming sold on the benefits that Ruby offers. He doesn't shy away from where Ruby still doesn't measure up. It's more a case of using the right tool for a job, and he feels that Java is an elephant gun being used to kill small rodents in far too many cases. There is always the risk that Ruby won't "cross the chasm", but he feels that Ruby has reached that critical mass that ensures it won't stagnate and die. I personally have wanted to learn Ruby, and this only whets my appetite all the more. I've been trying to learn Perl (in my lack of spare time) for use as a utility tool. But apparently Ruby can do that kind of data manipulation just as well, so I'll probably be reassessing my time spent in that area...

If you're someone who has seen the benefit of Ruby and you want to get your management on board, this might well be the sales tool you need... An excellent read...