From: Gregory Brown <gregory.t.brown@...>
Date: 2006-02-06T21:50:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Torn in two - Pythonist

On 2/6/06, Doug Bromley <doug.bromley@gmail.com> wrote:
> You probably get this question all the time or some version of it.
> I've been hovering in this mailing list for a time just to get a feel
> for the community.
> I must say I'm pretty impressed.  Its friendly, very active and I've
> learnt a lot.
>
> However, I'm a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
> unusual in its syntax.  Am I missing out?  Should I jump ship?  Has
> anyone else been in my position and taken the  plunge by converting?

I came from Perl so it was a different transition.  Still, there is no
real reason to 'jump ship' though.  Python is a very powerful and
clean language, and if you are comfortable with it, you'll probably
code just as quickly in it as you would in Ruby.

I definitely suggest trying out the language and playing around with
some of the things that are a lot of fun in Ruby (such as the
metaprogramming aspects) and just get a feel for the things that are
different, rather than similar in the language.  This will make you a
better programmer and also may make it so down the line, you might be
able to use Ruby alongside Python or any other language in your work.

A lot of people would lead you to believe there is such a thing as
Python VS. Ruby.
Though there is a good degree of natural competition due to similar
scopes, there is no reason why you couldn't use both in your every day
life.

I am actually relearning some python as I read through the Pragmatic
Programmer's book Data Crunching...  it's always interesting to
explore different languages and pick up new ideas.

There is some interesting stuff about why Ruby might be a good language here:
http://www.ruby-doc.org/whyruby