Torn in two - Pythonist

Ruby
1

You probably get this question all the time or some version of it.
I’ve been hovering in this mailing list for a time just to get a feel
for the community.
I must say I’m pretty impressed. Its friendly, very active and I’ve
learnt a lot.

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out? Should I jump ship? Has
anyone else been in my position and taken the plunge by converting?

I’d be grateful for your input.

All the best.

Doug

2

Hi,

Welcome,

From: “Doug B.” [email protected]

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out? Should I jump ship? Has
anyone else been in my position and taken the plunge by converting?

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a baptism. Unless your personal
beliefs dictate otherwise, you could prolly just try Ruby on the
side and see how you like it. Maybe do a ruby quiz, or pick some
small utility you’ve found you have a need for and see if you like
writing Ruby code. :slight_smile:

Regards,

Bill

3

On 2/6/06, Doug B. [email protected] wrote:

You probably get this question all the time or some version of it.
I’ve been hovering in this mailing list for a time just to get a feel
for the community.
I must say I’m pretty impressed. Its friendly, very active and I’ve
learnt a lot.

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out? Should I jump ship? Has
anyone else been in my position and taken the plunge by converting?

I came from Perl so it was a different transition. Still, there is no
real reason to ‘jump ship’ though. Python is a very powerful and
clean language, and if you are comfortable with it, you’ll probably
code just as quickly in it as you would in Ruby.

I definitely suggest trying out the language and playing around with
some of the things that are a lot of fun in Ruby (such as the
metaprogramming aspects) and just get a feel for the things that are
different, rather than similar in the language. This will make you a
better programmer and also may make it so down the line, you might be
able to use Ruby alongside Python or any other language in your work.

A lot of people would lead you to believe there is such a thing as
Python VS. Ruby.
Though there is a good degree of natural competition due to similar
scopes, there is no reason why you couldn’t use both in your every day
life.

I am actually relearning some python as I read through the Pragmatic
Programmer’s book Data Crunching… it’s always interesting to
explore different languages and pick up new ideas.

There is some interesting stuff about why Ruby might be a good language
here:

4

Doug B. [email protected] writes:

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out?

I’m a Rubyist and I must admit Python is still a little unusual in its
syntax… :wink:

You’ll get used to it, hang in there.

5

Ruby and Python are very similar. There are some minor differences
(muliple inheritance/mixins, etc). The major difference, however, is
that Ruby has blocks.

Like this:

[1, 2, 3].map{|i| i * 2}
=>
[2, 4, 6]

You would probably do this with a list comprehension in Python. This is
one of the tasks of blocks in Ruby.

Another difference is that you cannot access instance variables of an
object from the outside world. All communication goes through methods.

If you compare Ruby and Python, the number of differences is relatively
low, however.

Jules

6

On Tuesday 07 February 2006 02:11 am, Jules J. wrote:

Ruby and Python are very similar.

A few particular items Ruby has which Python nor Perl don’t have is
decent
propaganda against other languages.

http://po-ru.com/diary/ruby-propaganda/

:slight_smile:

Tsume

7

[email protected] wrote:

On Tuesday 07 February 2006 02:11 am, Jules J. wrote:

Ruby and Python are very similar.

A few particular items Ruby has which Python nor Perl don’t have is decent
propaganda against other languages.

http://po-ru.com/diary/ruby-propaganda/

WARNING: Blatant $promotional content approaching!

And cooler schwag:

http://rubystuff.com/
http://rubystuff.com/shoplist.html

This might be of special interest:

http://www.cafepress.com/pythonrehab

Ruby: A New Danger : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

“You’ll shoot your eye out!”

http://www.cafepress.com/ruby_dangerous
http://www.cafepress.com/rubyshootout

–
James B.

“A principle or axiom is of no value without the rules for applying it.”

  • Len Bullard
8

In article
[email protected],
Doug B. [email protected] wrote:

You probably get this question all the time or some version of it.=20
I’ve been hovering in this mailing list for a time just to get a feel
for the community.
I must say I’m pretty impressed. Its friendly, very active and I’ve
learnt a lot.

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out? Should I jump ship? Has
anyone else been in my position and taken the plunge by converting?

Don’t think of it as jumping ship. Think of it as going over to check
out the
other side of the catamaran.

This dynamic-language catamaran has many pontoons and you are free to
move
about them. Just remember to keep your lifejacket on.

Phil

9

Doug B. wrote:

You probably get this question all the time or some version of it.
I’ve been hovering in this mailing list for a time just to get a feel
for the community.
I must say I’m pretty impressed. Its friendly, very active and I’ve
learnt a lot.

However, I’m a Pythonist and I must admit Ruby is still a little
unusual in its syntax. Am I missing out? Should I jump ship? Has
anyone else been in my position and taken the plunge by converting?

no need to bind yourself to one, use both
one will help you to better understand the another

I can remember my first tries with Python
coming from C and C++ it took some mind bending to grasp it
as soon as I became fluent in it I did’t used C++ much
though one important thing … I learned a great deal about C++
as well by learning Python
when I tried Ruby I was used to dynamic in the language so
I didn’t took much to learn it (great thanks to irb :wink:

Ruby and Python are indeed similar in many ways
some ideas are better expressed with Python others with Ruby

I’d be grateful for your input.

don’t take it too seriosly
afer all they are just tools :slight_smile:

my 2 cents