When they ask, what is this written in?

[Richard Gaskin]

Mark Smith wrote:
> Just recently, I told one company I'm working with that I'm using a  
> scripting language called revolution. They didn't seem worried.
> 
> Perhaps the phrase "scripting language" might once have caused  
> concern, but given the prevalence of perl, php, ruby and python, I  
> don't think it worries many people these days.

True, I think the plethora of very capable VHLs has brought us to a sort 
of Golden Age for scripting.  At last we get some respect. :)

For years I've been referring folks to this article that I first came 
across via Scott Raney:

Scripting: Higher Level Programming
for the 21st Century
John K. Ousterhout
<http://www.tcl.tk/doc/scripting.html>

While focused on TCL, all the arguments he makes there for the inherent 
productivity of typeless languages applies equally well to Transcript.

More recently Geoff Canyon turned me on to this one:

In Praise of Scripting:  Real Programming Pragmatism
Ronald P. Loui
<http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~loui/praiseieee.txt>

When I get some free time (yeah, right), I plan to put these and other 
references together into a "Why Revolution?" article for my site.

I think Rev offers a unique blend of strengths that even in spite of its 
weaknesses make it a strong candidate for a broad range of 
vertical-market applications.  It doesn't take much nudging to present a 
good case for it, but hopefully such an article will simplify such 
conversations.

In the meantime, perhaps the strongest case could be made by simply 
getting the good folks at RunRev to flesh out their listing of apps made 
with Rev.  Nothing makes a more compelling argument than tangible results.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
  _______________________________________________________
  Rev tips, tutorials and more: http://www.revJournal.com