This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz by Jared Richardson. Original Post: Ruby and the Rabid Enthusiasts Feed Title: Jared's Weblog Feed URL: http://www.jaredrichardson.net/blog/index.rss Feed Description: Jared's weblog. The web site was created after the launch of the book "Ship It!" and discusses issues from Continuous Integration to web hosting providers. Latest Agile Buzz Posts Latest Agile Buzz Posts by Jared Richardson Latest Posts From Jared's Weblog

Just a thought on the blogosphere storm that came after Bruce Eckel's blog posting entitled The departure of the hyper-enthusiasts.

Hyper-enthusiasts might be another word for "early adopters". The early adopters are the people that jump on bandwagons early. They were all over Java in the early days. The first to PHP, Ruby and OSX, and other technologies. They were the first to own HD television sets. They like to tinker with new things.

Early adopters tend to be very vocal in their support of a new technology. If they tinker with it and like what they find, you'll hear about it. There are early adopters behind most of the up-and-coming languages and tools. That's why the technologies are up-and-coming. :) They haven't arrived but they are moving.

Perhaps some early enthusiasts were a bit too enthusiastic. Doe we throw out the baby with the bad bathwater? I'm thinking no.

Will Ruby replace Java? No. Will they co-exist? Yes. I've heard people say that Java will own the enterprise deployments and Ruby will own the smaller apps. Could be... I don't know but it's a possibility.

This doesn't have to be "us" versus "them". Learn both. Learn PHP, Python, C#, and whatever else you come across. Put the tools in your toolbox and use them when they fit.

Jared