On Fri, 2009-09-04 at 06:18 -0700, dan06 wrote: > I'd like to learn a programming language - and I need help deciding between > python and ruby. I'm interesting in learning what are the difference, both > objective and subjective, between the two languages. I know this is a python > mailing list, so knowledge/experience with ruby may be limited - in which > case I'd still be interested in learning why members of this mailing list > chose python over (or in addition to) any other programming language. I look > forward to the feedback/insight.
I'm a non-programmer that went through this process not too long ago (leaving a broken trail of google searches and books in my wake). I looked at a number of languages, Ruby included. I chose to focus on Python first because of it's relatively clear syntax and what seems like more mature scientific modules/distributions (Scipy, Numpy, EPD, Sage, and related packages). Much of the secondary material I found for Ruby focused on Rails and web-related endeavors (tho people obviously use Ruby for many things). Of course, Python offers its own web frameworks (e.g., Django, web2py) and probably plenty of other packages I haven't even encountered yet. I have no pet peeves when it comes to syntax (e.g., some people don't like significant whitespace, etc.). I was just looking for 1) a language that isn't too hard to learn and 2) a language that is flexible enough that future exploration/growth wouldn't be a huge pain in the ass. So, for example, pulling and storing data is relatively straightforward, but can I analyze it? If I do that, can I visualize the analysis? And can I automatically generate a presentation using these visualizations if I want to? If I then want to convert this presentation into a data-driven website, can I do that? Etc., etc., etc...One can do all of this in any language, but Python offered the best productivity-to-PITA ratio (to me, at least). So it all obviously depends on what you want to do, but those were my reasons. Both Ruby and Python were attractive, I just decided that Python's scientific ecosystem was the deciding factor. I am now looking at R to plug some holes, since no language is perfect ;) I'm interested to see how the MacRuby project develops as they are moving to an LLVM-based architecture that is expected to improve Ruby's performance a lot (mirrored by similar efforts by the JRuby team and others). I'm getting a bit out over my skis now, so I'll stop there. Hope it helps, dk -- morenotestoself.wordpress.com financialpython.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
