Welcome,
Python or Ruby?
Both are good languages but I looked at many/most over the years and Python is
clearly my language of choice. Lots of reasons. Am I biased? I like to think
my choice is like yours, the result of some careful study.
Here are but a couple of bullets you may want to chew on.
- libraries to help you with whatever are far more "available"
and more mature for Python than Ruby. ...in case you ever want
to do something a little different.
- a question asked of the Python community has, in my experience,
received many prompt (and polite) responses. ...more so than
with other languages. ...in my experience.
- talking to libraries written in C is snap with ctypes. There
are other tools for C and other languages, but I personally
swear by ctypes.
- I like SPE, but I'll let others address IDEs. Personally, I've
found a [good] text editor and a terminal are all that is really
necessary.
- did I mention there are a LOT of good libraries to assist you?
Web frameworks are not my long suit but folks I know that have worked with both
Django and Rails say both are good but they prefer Django for reasons of
"explicit is better that implicit".
Generally speaking, Python has a larger user/developer community and continues
to grow. And that includes within one major Fortune 100 company I'm familiar
with. (I haven't seen the data myself, but I've heard from some sources I
trust that the popularity of Ruby may have peaked. True? False? Dunno.)
On the flip side, Python's indentation may seem strange and perhaps awkward for
the first week or two, but do stick with it. I'll bet that after two weeks you
will not want to go back. Just be sure to set your editor to use 4 spaces in
lieu of tabs and indention is [virtually] painless. ...my opinion.
That said, Ruby is a good language. It has some nice technical features. In
larger picture of things, I did not find them sufficiently compelling to cause
me to choose Ruby over Python. ...and today Python3 fixes a lot of the
weaknesses associated with the earlier versions of Python.
Best to you in your quest.
Larry
On Apr 15, 2011, at 11:56 AM, Matt Towers wrote:
Hi Everyone,
Just joined the list today and looking forward to learning more.
My company is in the process of ditching PHP as our web framework and
strongly leaning towards Python, though Ruby is in the running as well. I only
have limited experience with both but will be ultimately responsible for the
application. Can anyone here comment on the relative strengths of Python over
Ruby (or vice-versa)? Some of the factors we're considering are:
How do the learning curves compare for someone with a strong background
in traditional object oriented design and languages (C++, Java, C#, etc.)?
Is there a decently sized pool skilled Python web developers in the
Seattle area?
Given the maturity of Python, I assume there are large number of
developer tools and libraries out there, but in terms of web development are
there any obviously missing components found in other frameworks?
Cheers!
✈ Matt
