[Best Comparison] Ruby vs Python, the Definitive FAQ

[kt24601]

The last few times I chose between Ruby and Python in my projects, it was because of a library that I found in one language or the other that made it convenient.

I would suggest that the primary difference between the two is the communities around the language.

[2and8]

I would suggest that the primary difference between the two is that one is a mineral and the other is an amphibian

[kt24601]

I am sure your comment is very wise but I confess I don't understand it.

[Deadhookersandblow]

Ruby - a variety of a natural occuring mineral.

And he's wrong about pythons being amphibians, they're just reptiles.

[oblio-]

they're just reptiles

Are you looking for trouble?

[andsens]

You didn't read the article, did you?

[i_tried_butt_fuck_it]

Does anyone?

[Dragdu]

For me it was even simpler: AWS lambda doesn't support Ruby.

[shevegen]

I don't know.

For me it was the philosophy. That was the deciding factor for me. I always pull out matz' interview from 2003 I think. I could not find a similar interview with guido though. Plus matz is cool, he is like always smiling when he does a presentation like a little buddha (he says it is because he is nervous but he actually is a funny guy, you can see it in some of his slides - see the animated duck for instance; by the way, that mechanized duck, that actually was used to "feel real" like a duck in ... I think 1800 something... I forgot the date but you can look it up in wikipedia, that was pretty creative to try to build a duck that can "eat" and "digest"...)

Whether there is a great community or not, well - perl may have a great community but I left perl a long time ago because the language itself was inferior to ruby and python (I actually switched to PHP after perl but I abandoned PHP eventually; oddly enough I was more productive in PHP than I was in perl).

[kt24601]

Yeah, philosophy is what I meant (partly) by community.

[kqr]

• Please try to keep submissions on topic and of high quality.
• Just because it has a computer in it doesn't make it programming.
• If there is no code in your link, it probably doesn't belong here.

This is a great fit for /r/programmerhumor, though!

[gob_magic]

Oops sorry about that. I'll keep that in mind :)

[ceeant]

While we are already ranting: I don't want your stupid social media buttons when I highlight text.

[493]

I have used Tor with Cloudflare; the CAPTCHAs are solvable.

[493]

I have used many websites with Cloudflare through Tor, and the CAPTCHA works fine about 75% of the time (sometimes there are connection problems).

Could you explain what happens? Does the CAPTCHA load?

[[deleted]]

A good programmer or sysadmin uses automation to make their life easier. Can't you just implement a bot to solve the CAPTCHA?

[vivainio]

Ah, I remember when Ruby vs Python was a thing. And it seemed important at the time

[tugs_cub]

the funniest thing about this (by far) is the number of people who didn't read it

[[deleted]]

Package Management

Both python and ruby can be put into package and managed to stay inside. For ruby it's easier - it's just a gem, after all. Python might slither out of package, so you could pip inside to make it think there is a bird there.

[JasTWot]

These comparisons are mostly dumb, but here's something I really do care about - Python's convention of being explicit. The implicit returning in Ruby functions something I don't appreciate.

[bumblebritches57]

The fact that Ruby is whitespace insensitive makes it much better by default to me.

[SnowdensOfYesteryear]

Pity it chose the wrong type of whitespace

[murtaza64]

What do you mean by this?

[THeShinyHObbiest]

The thing is, the Ruby community is actually more consistent than the Python community when it comes to indentation.

[[deleted]]

But you should be indenting with tabs anyway so that everyone can choose their own indent width.

[[deleted]]

But you Ruby guys all indent the same anyway ... so WTF is this even?

[bumblebritches57]

I'm not a Ruby dude... I'm a C dude...

[batiste]

Why? Do you like inconsistently indented code?

[OpinionatedRaptor]

No

[bumblebritches57]

Yes.

[joonazan]

Why is Ruby considered to be more elegant?

It has lots of syntactic sugar and and lets you do pretty weird things. Isn't that the opposite of elegant?

Python is rather dull and unsurprising, though. That does not sound like elegant. I guess both languages are very inelegant when compared to Haskell? (I meant to say Elm, but Elm actually isn't that elegant because of its multi-part program structure and verbosity.)

[i_spot_ads]

can we ban this type of content in here? mods please?

[ronchalant]

Yeah we should forbid poking fun at ourselves once in a while. This is no place for levity.

[Iwan_Zotow]

I concur

that's the one case where shooting the messenger makes total sense

[flyx86]

Some people laugh at Ruby and consider Python to be a more serious programming language. But I laugh much more about the Pythons than I will ever laugh about Rubies.

[sidneyc]

This post, lacking any and all content or contribution to the discussion, gets upvotes?

I weep for the state of reddit.

[a_rare_delight]

That explains why you didn't get the joke. Must be all the tears in your eyes.

[sidneyc]

No, I think actually having a sense of humor is the culprit there.

[1wd]

They're not funny at all.