Why Python is Better than Ruby

Do you know why Python is better than Ruby?

Ruby on Rails is popular because the language and framework are nearly synonymous, so you do not have to worry about which framework someone is using. This improves programmer productivity.

That's why Ruby on Rails is preferred in Silicon Valley.

That's why it was hot in Silicon Valley in the 2000s. However, Ruby lacks the scalability of Python, which is why sites like Twitter and Groupon had to move off it once they got big.

I suppose that's an indictment of Ruby. It is great to make a cute app, but it isn't what works when you hit it big.

Python is better for scientific computing and numeric computing. Ruby is better for little apps that really don't matter.

Which language do you consider more reliable?

Over the longer term, Python. It is more mainstream, not a flash in the pan, so you won't have to rewrite something in Python to a new language in ten years.

There are nuclear missile controls still running on Fortran and Basic.

That is not an argument against my low opinion of Ruby. That's like saying because Lisp has been around for fifty years, it should still be around in fifty more.

Ruby gets points for being more terse.

It also has odd semantic that makes it hard for anyone not familiar with Ruby to figure out. Other languages are easier for someone to figure out what the code is supposed to do.

That's what documentation is for.

Python has infinitely better documentation than Ruby. And you're more likely to figure out what the programmer who left your business to join a start up was trying to do if he wrote it in Python.

Ruby is popular in a lot of computer science programs.

And Python has more resources for development and testing than Ruby. I don't care if the programmer hot off the diploma mill knows Ruby, Python has the solid tools serious developers use to debug, develop and design new code.

[christianlewis]

That has to be one of the most mixed up and confusing arguments I've ever come across.

[thomasslone]

still gotta love how small you can make a ruby interpreter that is still capable of most logic tasks, not saying its better than python as far as capability but you can use a mixture of java and c in the windows interpreter making up for the interpreters lacking parts, ruby has surperior readability and very stylish freedom of linguistics, though python is easier to compile, in my opinion learning ruby first and sticking with it as my only language helped me learn better engineering skills, low level techniques and forced me to get to know windows more intamatly than i would have had i learned python and had all those fancy utilities already made never being forced to engineer my own means of accomplishing system level and complex tasks like compression, ect

[thomasslone]

ooo and you can redefine core interpreter objects to your hearts content, obsificate your ruby files....so ruby is slower and provides way less out of the box features, i guess thats a problem for lazy devs and those with low coding skills but ruby is also meant for making the learning of coding much easier, like i said it forced me to implement thengs you guys take for granted and made me learn so much more about math, logic, platforms and processors.

i know i fell for the bait but just had to clear that up, carry on python devs and respect ruby just as we respect python

[uzefulvideos]

Ruby still has the better syntax. Just my opinion.

[massacresoldierkiller]

metasploit was written in ruby nuf said

[Gorlung]

nerd.. she meant your python to put into her ruby and use silicon..