From: William Djaja Tjokroaminata <billtj@...>
Date: 2002-09-04T01:22:31+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby aesthetics

Hi,

I just want to add that in my opinion, what really make Python so popular
are, among other things:

    1) Indentation-based syntax
    2) "There is only one way to do it"

I think 1) at the time Python was introduced (several years ago) was
really "revolutionary" (well, yes, there were already several non-popular
languages that were indentation-based such as ABC(?)), as all other
mainstream languages such as C/C++, Java, and Perl have the free-form
syntax.  Making the syntax to be indentation-based really enforces clean
coding, independent of the programmer's discipline.

Regarding 2), combined with 1), it really just makes all Python codes very
consistent.  We know what exactly to write to accomplish something, and it
is very rare that we encounter a cryptic code.  I am still grieving that
Ruby carries Perl's idiom of statement modifier

    ..... if/unless/while/until .....

Also, in Ruby there are several method synonyms, such as Array
"indexes" and "indices", which unnecessarily add more complications to the
language.

I think these are several reasons why not all people migrated from Python
to Ruby.  (And of course we all know the superiority of Ruby to
Python, right? :) )  I am just speculating, that, since Ruby was written
after Python was introduced, if these two factors (among other
things) have been taken into Ruby, probably Ruby had replaced Python to a
great extent...

Regards,

Bill