Comparing Python vs Ruby is kind of a sport, this time I'll talk about code beauty. Python's huge advantages are its mature and insightful libraries and its faster run time. Grammar-wise, they are awfully similar.
Ruby is basically an slower Python where there are no functions; methods can't be freely passed around and are called on reference without parens; lambdas can be defined in-line (blocks); monkey-patching runs wild and has a virtually endless stock of little conveniences and shortcuts.
Its actually no small loot, the niceties cut the character count and the more obscure shortcuts you know the more compact you can make your code. You can see dramatic differences on code length between beginner and expert Ruby devs.
This is what I call Red Beauty: Ruby focuses on making code easier to write.
Some of the features are simple trade-offs and I feel Python makes the right choices more often, I prefer the slot based philosophy of object orientation and having to use parens on methods is an small price to pay.
Functions vs blocks are a false dichotomy, multiline lambdas could solve both problems but if I have to choose I prefer first class function objects, you can't pass more than one block to a method in Ruby.
The near ban on monkey-patching can be painful, mostly in your pride, since its cooler to use your own methods on strings than wrappers, but I'll argue that its thanks to this Python has better libraries. Python libraries will always be superior period, expect me to byte my tongue in six years, but I think the philosophies of Python make for better module writing.
So what about the niceties and shortcuts? Well its a mixed bag... I miss string interpolation but that's about it. The different ways to turn an string into a hash actually bother me because it means I have to learn many ways to do something to understand somebody else's code and code written using spacial case shortcuts can need complete re-writing when the specs change.
So this is what I call Green Beauty: Python focuses on making code easier to maintain.
So which is more beautiful? Both, they just have a different shade of beauty.
Ruby is basically an slower Python where there are no functions; methods can't be freely passed around and are called on reference without parens; lambdas can be defined in-line (blocks); monkey-patching runs wild and has a virtually endless stock of little conveniences and shortcuts.
Its actually no small loot, the niceties cut the character count and the more obscure shortcuts you know the more compact you can make your code. You can see dramatic differences on code length between beginner and expert Ruby devs.
This is what I call Red Beauty: Ruby focuses on making code easier to write.
Some of the features are simple trade-offs and I feel Python makes the right choices more often, I prefer the slot based philosophy of object orientation and having to use parens on methods is an small price to pay.
Functions vs blocks are a false dichotomy, multiline lambdas could solve both problems but if I have to choose I prefer first class function objects, you can't pass more than one block to a method in Ruby.
The near ban on monkey-patching can be painful, mostly in your pride, since its cooler to use your own methods on strings than wrappers, but I'll argue that its thanks to this Python has better libraries. Python libraries will always be superior period, expect me to byte my tongue in six years, but I think the philosophies of Python make for better module writing.
So what about the niceties and shortcuts? Well its a mixed bag... I miss string interpolation but that's about it. The different ways to turn an string into a hash actually bother me because it means I have to learn many ways to do something to understand somebody else's code and code written using spacial case shortcuts can need complete re-writing when the specs change.
So this is what I call Green Beauty: Python focuses on making code easier to maintain.
So which is more beautiful? Both, they just have a different shade of beauty.
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