This reminds me of a video I saw a while ago. Basically a skit with a couple of actors highlighting some flaw in each language. I remember PHP being something like: "My god, there's SQL in the HTML!." Anybody know where I can find it?
I am a Ruby fanboy and I can definitely say that this is very accurate. I feel very much like The Cable Guy when I'm writing C code, not that I don't enjoy that from time to time :)
During the last few years I've seen a lot of language wars and FUD from certain communities. It makes me feel so damn old. I thought most people grew out of things like that after high school, when they've changed environments a few times.
Pettiness is a universal constant. The only way to control it is by choosing your environment (friends) wisely.
As for the FUD, I look at it like this:
Programming is an innately painful experience: you get punished for everything you do wrong, and the reward for getting it right is that the program works exactly how you pictured it in your mind N minutes/hours/days ago. So to sell a new programming language you have to convince people the language is less painful than what they're using now. This is most easily accomplished by pointing out existing pain points in other languages, and hammering on those over and over. And lo, mysql-real-escape-string and IStringBuilderFactory<T> become easy targets.
A secondary reason may be that the most vocal members of the community may not be the best spokespeople. People who are getting [stuff] done tend not to get involved in most language wars and FUD. This I assume applies to all fields, not just CompSci & CompLang.
And you might also think people grew out of watching soap operas, sci-fi movies, Dungeons and Dragons, or what not, but no.. we're human and there are plenty of grown up folks engaging in silly activities that aren't hurting anyone else. Let them alone. Humans, for the most part, like drama and humor.
I can only thank god I'm not growing up if it results in a life so dull that you can't be a little childish and poke fun at things.
Seriously, don't you think there is enough of that pathetic shit on Reddit, slashdot, etc? Do you really want language flame wars and FUD campaigns everywhere?
But this cartoon was quite innocent in its stupidity, certainly.
It takes me back to summer employment during college, when the Ford and Chevy buffs (yes, there were such persons back then--I'm not young) would slang each other's tastes. During the school year one could hear the fans of Italian and British sports cars do the same.
