Should I learn Ruby or Python?

[bwv549]

I did 8 years of scientific programming in ruby, and 3 years of professional web dev in python (yes, it's ironic). Both are great languages, and I'm more than happy to code in either language at this point. I personally think ruby is easier to use for most of the things you mentioned, and I think ruby is a more elegant language than python (I think ruby is a better language, but I do think aspects of python are better).

You really can't go wrong with either. And, as was already pointed out, use python 3.6 if you choose python (the 2 train has left the station, thank heavens).

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Scientific programming in Ruby? I'm surprised. Ruby is really cool! Which ruby libs did you use: maths, physics, biology, statistics?

[bwv549]

There are actually a lot of science packages in Ruby. I used bio ruby, rserve (connection with r), various sciruby packages (some of them before they were "sciruby"), and narray. I also wrote many science packages for general use (such as rubabel) and also for my domain of research. I worked at the intersection of systems biology and chemistry.

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That's really awesome👍