edit: did i win the fastest comment to the bottom on hn? what do I get?
jokes aside, care to explain why folks?
In all seriousness, the results speak for themselves, when comparing to Ruby in terms of speed.
https://github.com/kostya/benchmarks
I'm not sure "Ruby but faster" is the point. I'd argue that it's more "cool new language that should be comfortable for anyone already familiar with Ruby".
Could be that. I've used Ruby for 10 years, I'm just used a dynamic language. I also dealt with a typed Javascript monorepo and it was not very fun to deal with when the types weren't working for whatever reason.
For the majority of us who use Ruby, we use Rails, and Rails is great. Crystal is irrelevant as a comparison to Ruby, because there is no Rails (I'm sure there's web frameworks, but they're not nearly as productive as Rails). Rails isn't perfect, and there's plenty of room for improvement, but switching languages and starting from scratch isn't the solution.
The biggest downside of Ruby compared to other languages (besides speed, but like I said, that doesn't matter here), is lack of static typing. That may or may not be a problem depending on your usecase.
I wouldn't say it's irrelevant, Crystal is already being used by ex-Rubyists and the ecosystem of crystal libraries are being built by them as well.
After 1.0 you would see more of this happening.
Lucky [0][1] by Thoughtbot is the closest to Rails in the Crystal world.
> The biggest downside of Ruby compared to other languages (besides speed, but like I said, that doesn't matter here), is lack of static typing. That may or may not be a problem depending on your usecase.
Then I shouldn't see any complaints about speed on Ruby if it doesn't matter, Crystal solves all of this built in, with the trade off of slower build times, but then again Rust also has slower build times as well.
But to each their own.
downvoted, apparently. As a Rails dev though, Crystal does look very promising, and as a Typescript dev, it has optional strong typing with a syntax that is much, much more appealing than RBS.
If I was to migrate away from Ruby, Crystal would not be a candidate.
And your productivity on your team plummets as a result.
Rust also has slow build times [0], but it didn't stop people from using it.
[0] https://pingcap.com/blog/rust-compilation-model-calamity
If the rust syntax and borrow checker wasn't masochistic enough...
The solution is to start breaking up the monolith so you only compile sections at a time.
So when did you start using a Nokia 3310 as your dev machine?
It's good for people to know of alternatives.
So, No.
Personally, I'd sooner code in Go than in Crystal. The tooling is way better.
Mruby however would be my first choice for "Ruby but with compilation."
If that won't work, then I'm looking to Go next.
A pretty syntax on top of a clean object model is a key selling point of Ruby.
I agree with you about Crystal though. No interest in it.
Language designers all optimise for different needs and if they find an audience they are doing something right for someone even if it isn't you.