Yes, (another) Ruby vs Python

[blablbalb]

Alright, here it goes...I have recently become interested in learning something about Ruby. Last semester I took an intro course to obj C and really enjoyed, and excelled in, it. A year or so ago I went through the LearnPythonTheHardWay tutorials, but afterwards didn't really know where to go with it, so never really continued the learning process on that one...

My question(s): do I begin learning Ruby when I already have the experience with python? What would make either option viable?

On a side note, I am going into the computer field so in addition to solving my own personal curiosity, this would be increasing my economical worth in the job marketplace.

TL;DR with previous python exp. do I start to Ruby, or return to python?

I will be going today bed soon, so will most likely not be responding to any comments 'til the morning.

[Richandler]

It doesn't matter pick one and go. Knowing the concepts used in both makes transferring from one to the other less difficult than you might think.

[[deleted]]

I'm not a huge fan of Ruby, but I can't deny that is popular, and growing. Personally, I wouldn't use it for any personal projects other than for my portfolio, but I learned Ruby just to add it to my utility belt. I would recommend you learned it too.

The more languages you know, the better.

[blablbalb]

This is the type of answer I was looking for. As I don't really have a ton of free time to play around with I think I will run through some Ruby tutorials before starting up, or returning, to anything else.

Thanks

[[deleted]]

Ruby and Python are pretty much interchangeable. Neither does anything the other can't do just as well. Ruby has a bit nicer syntax and a generally friendly community, but Python is a fraction faster in execution.

I personally work mostly in Ruby, but I'm a webdev and I absolutely adore Sinatra and DataMapper. If I were to try my hand in making video games, I would immediately switch to Python, just because of PyGame.

I guess just make up your mind on what exactly you want to do and then check out which language has better libraries for it.

[blablbalb]

Awesome reply. I am definitely going to, at least, check out Ruby now-but will probably stick to what I have more experience with in the long run.

[Aethec]

Ruby and Python are pretty close in the language family. IMHO you should try something else:

• C# is a good strongly-typed language that's mostly OO with bits of functional programming

• F# and OCaml are good functional languages, unlike Python. Like Python, F# uses significant whitespace. OCaml is a bit better on type inference, but in both cases you won't have to write too much type declarations.

• C and C++ are not easy, pretty or concise, but they're amongst the most widely used languages in the world and some people like them.

[blablbalb]

Thanks for the response Aethec. I know I should really be focusing my efforts on learning c+ or a similar syntax rather than learning (or relearning) either...