I'm coming from a C/C++/PHP/Javascript background. I'm not sure which to learn between Python and Ruby. Both language are very similar and lately, Ruby seems to get a lot of hype (thanks to Ruby on Rails). However, Python has Django and is the language of choice of Google so it can't be bad ;) Which one would you recommend me to learn ?
Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
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Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#2I work professionally in Django. Django is nicer starting out, but it's starting to chafe. I'd rails, even if it is a "grass greener" type situation.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#3I work professionally in Django. Django is nicer starting out, but it's starting to chafe. I'd rails, even if it is a "grass greener" type situation.
Thanks for the honest insight.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#4Either one is fine. They are both dynamic and flexible languages, mature, have powerful web frameworks, and fairly large library repositories.
The choice is more a matter of preference. Python generally encourages you to do "the right thing". Ruby offers more room for doing things the way you like them.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#5Write some scripts in both. If you already know a few languages, it's pretty easy to pick up the basics.
After that, pick the one you enjoyed more. They're essentially equivalent at this time.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#6Whether you pick Python or Ruby, you should try to avoid diving right into Django or Rails.
Work through Mark Pilgrim's "Dive Into Python" or _why's "Poignant Guide to Ruby".
If you want to write a web app, start with Google AppEngine w/ it's webapp framework, or Heroku w/ Sinatra.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#7python for sure. you can use it with app engine, whereas ruby on the app engine jvm is less mature.
take a look at some source code here to help you get started:
http://developeradvocate.appspot.com/id/1005/AppEngineBlog-(...
http://code.google.com/p/appengineblogsoftware/source/browse...
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#8python for sure. you can use it with app engine, whereas ruby on the app engine jvm is less mature. take a look at some source code here to help you get started: http://developeradvocate.appspot.com/id/1005/AppEngineBlog-(... http://code.google.com/p/appengineblogsoftware/source/browse...
I come from a c# and php background and don't know ruby, for what it's worth.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#9It is one of those things were you take about 20 minutes with each language and see which one fits you better.
Python's philosophy is there should only be one obvious way to express something.
Ruby's philosophy is the language should be expressive enough that you can express something in a way that makes sense to you.
The biggest advantage Python has over Ruby is its wealth of scientific libraries, but that may not matter to you much as a web developer.
Re: Ask HN: What should I learn next: Ruby or Python ?
#10python. coming from almost the same background python was easier, ruby was just.. annoying, its all hype and IMO will soon crash.
Also I really like the speed at which you can write up a python script to solve a problem.