>What about the auxiliary scripts that need to be written for some tasks to automate some task that is ancillary to your product? If you are writing a ruby script for those tasks that are useful but could be done by brute force methods I don't see a problem with that.
Pfft.
Any semi conservative workplace, anywhere: "What? No, who the hell would maintain it? Stick to <tools of choice>."
Although I like to think I'm a bit cooler and down with the times and the hip words the kids use would probably say something like, "So help me god, if I have to learn Erlang at three in the morning to fix some bullshit you cobbled together I will fucking end you".
I didn't mean anything that other people use. Just scripts that help you out; those scripts are for you and you alone. They help you do you job more effectively but do not require you to install them on other machines. It depends on the size of the company for where the level of latitude stops though.
Actually this is where we let our developers experiment a bit. Obviously nothing too out there but just because you're a Java shop it doesn't mean that Java is the best tool for everything you might do so it can make sense on a few levels.
Pfft.
Any semi conservative workplace, anywhere: "What? No, who the hell would maintain it? Stick to <tools of choice>."
Although I like to think I'm a bit cooler and down with the times and the hip words the kids use would probably say something like, "So help me god, if I have to learn Erlang at three in the morning to fix some bullshit you cobbled together I will fucking end you".