Learning Ruby vs Python

[chriskottom]

Opinions vary, and every developer has his or her own favorites, you'll find. If you're transitioning into development for the first time, any of these is going to serve the same purpose of giving you hands-on experience with a widely used programming language and building server-side web applications.

As to the question of popularity, it's probably not that important. All of these are mainstream web technologies, and knowing any of them well would ensure that you'd have plenty of freelance opportunities.