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Ruby has a very readable syntax and easy learning curve for new devs. What it lacks is the performance and type safety of a compiled language which I think is w

Ruby has a very readable syntax and easy learning curve for new devs. What it lacks is the performance and type safety of a compiled language which I think is why many people eventually switch to Rust and Go. Interestingly, Crystal might be an easier jump as it's syntax is very similar to Ruby, but with the performance gains that come with compiling to a single executable. Crystal is still pre-1.0 though so it doesn't quite have the production-ready stability or robust community of Go or Rust. https://crystal-lang.org https://crystal-lang.org

dleslie 7y ago
Perhaps critically, it lacks an official Windows distribution and support.
- learc83 7y ago
  Is anyone deploying anything other than .NET on windows for webdev though?
  - pault 7y ago
    A lot of folks have to use Windows machines at their day jobs.
    - learc83 7y ago
      If they're not deploying on windows though, there isn't much reason to develop on it.
      - pault 7y ago
        That's what I'm saying. It's not uncommon for companies to have AWS linux infrastructure for deployment but give everyone windows laptops for development. Don't ask me, ask the IT department.
        learc83 7y ago
        Are they running Linux VMs? Everywhere I've worked, I'm one of the few who's not on a Mac, so I'm not familiar with companies like this.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Very typical on enterprises doing Java development. It doesn't matter where the JVM is running.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Java and C++ (IIS modules)
  - davedx 7y ago
    node.js. I have a production line of business app running on node.js in a full windows environment (cloud server and desktop) for a SME I do work for.
  - grogenaut 7y ago
    I work on windows boxes all the time for go development it works great for that. Docker / Docker machine cause issues, and I can't use HyperV because I also have to be able to run android emulator. However every time I've looked at crystal I've stopped because there's no windows version. I have to have a gaming PC and I only use editors and languages that work on windows mac and linux so I don't hamstring myself or anyone I'm working with.
    - learc83 7y ago
      >However every time I've looked at crystal I've stopped because there's no windows version. I have to have a gaming PC and I only use editors and languages that work on windows mac and linux so I don't hamstring myself or anyone I'm working with. I have a gaming PC too and I run my editor and browser etc... in windows, but I have a Linux server where the software I'm developing actually lives and runs (if it's something web based and not designed to run on windows). I can't for the life of me figure out why you would actually run your development environment on a drastically different OS than what you're deploying to unless you absolutely have to. You're just asking to introduce an entirely avoidable class of bugs. I have done it btw, Go software developed for Raspberry PI on windows, but I definitely wouldn't do it again.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        Some of us do deploy Web applications on Windows.
        learc83 7y ago
        In which case developing on Windows makes perfect sense.
    - james_s_tayler 7y ago
      Just run a Linux dev VM in VMware. Best of all worlds. You have your Windows gaming PC and you can develop on it in Linux.
      - 7y ago
  - dleslie 7y ago
    As a game developer who sometimes uses Ruby, Crystal is appealing but a non starter.
- ajmurmann 7y ago
  Is this really an issue for most devs moving from Ruby? I don't think I have ever run Ruby on Windows or talked to anyone who did.
  - grogenaut 7y ago
    In 2008 when I did rails I was always annoyed that the dev tools heavily favored mac but you deployed to linux. No end of issues with native gems and deploys. I don't think I was using windows back then.
    - geowwy 7y ago
      Rails is still very much develop on Mac/deploy to Linux. Although I think developing on Windows and Linux is easier these days.
    - dimaboychev 7y ago
      I hate this. Some tools work best on Linux (i.e. LAMP/LEMP, composer, etc. - performance is noticeably better than Mac). I don't even mention Windows here because it's probably worse. I'd love to have one ultimate OS to do web development, but find myself hopping to Linux and back to Mac... and occasionally to Windows (games :D). Mac/Windows with Linux VM solves this issue, but it's a hassle. Windows Subsystem for Linux is again very slow (try composer) because of slow I/O -- so that great attempt from Microsoft doesn't work for all.

dleslie 7y ago

Perhaps critically, it lacks an official Windows distribution and support.

learc83 7y ago
Is anyone deploying anything other than .NET on windows for webdev though?
- pault 7y ago
  A lot of folks have to use Windows machines at their day jobs.
  - learc83 7y ago
    If they're not deploying on windows though, there isn't much reason to develop on it.
    - pault 7y ago
      That's what I'm saying. It's not uncommon for companies to have AWS linux infrastructure for deployment but give everyone windows laptops for development. Don't ask me, ask the IT department.
      - learc83 7y ago
        Are they running Linux VMs? Everywhere I've worked, I'm one of the few who's not on a Mac, so I'm not familiar with companies like this.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Very typical on enterprises doing Java development. It doesn't matter where the JVM is running.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Java and C++ (IIS modules)
- davedx 7y ago
  node.js. I have a production line of business app running on node.js in a full windows environment (cloud server and desktop) for a SME I do work for.
- grogenaut 7y ago
  I work on windows boxes all the time for go development it works great for that. Docker / Docker machine cause issues, and I can't use HyperV because I also have to be able to run android emulator. However every time I've looked at crystal I've stopped because there's no windows version. I have to have a gaming PC and I only use editors and languages that work on windows mac and linux so I don't hamstring myself or anyone I'm working with.
  - learc83 7y ago
    >However every time I've looked at crystal I've stopped because there's no windows version. I have to have a gaming PC and I only use editors and languages that work on windows mac and linux so I don't hamstring myself or anyone I'm working with. I have a gaming PC too and I run my editor and browser etc... in windows, but I have a Linux server where the software I'm developing actually lives and runs (if it's something web based and not designed to run on windows). I can't for the life of me figure out why you would actually run your development environment on a drastically different OS than what you're deploying to unless you absolutely have to. You're just asking to introduce an entirely avoidable class of bugs. I have done it btw, Go software developed for Raspberry PI on windows, but I definitely wouldn't do it again.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Some of us do deploy Web applications on Windows.
      - learc83 7y ago
        In which case developing on Windows makes perfect sense.
  - james_s_tayler 7y ago
    Just run a Linux dev VM in VMware. Best of all worlds. You have your Windows gaming PC and you can develop on it in Linux.
    - 7y ago
- dleslie 7y ago
  As a game developer who sometimes uses Ruby, Crystal is appealing but a non starter.
ajmurmann 7y ago
Is this really an issue for most devs moving from Ruby? I don't think I have ever run Ruby on Windows or talked to anyone who did.
- grogenaut 7y ago
  In 2008 when I did rails I was always annoyed that the dev tools heavily favored mac but you deployed to linux. No end of issues with native gems and deploys. I don't think I was using windows back then.
  - geowwy 7y ago
    Rails is still very much develop on Mac/deploy to Linux. Although I think developing on Windows and Linux is easier these days.
  - dimaboychev 7y ago
    I hate this. Some tools work best on Linux (i.e. LAMP/LEMP, composer, etc. - performance is noticeably better than Mac). I don't even mention Windows here because it's probably worse. I'd love to have one ultimate OS to do web development, but find myself hopping to Linux and back to Mac... and occasionally to Windows (games :D). Mac/Windows with Linux VM solves this issue, but it's a hassle. Windows Subsystem for Linux is again very slow (try composer) because of slow I/O -- so that great attempt from Microsoft doesn't work for all.