What's better about Ruby than Python?

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Alex Martelli wrote:
>
> Don't be misled by these comparisons into thinking the two
> languages are _very_ different, mind you.  They aren't.  But
> if I'm asked to compare "capelli d'angelo" to "spaghettini",
> after pointing out that these two kinds of pasta are just
> about undistinguishable to anybody and interchangeable in any
> dish you might want to prepare, I would then inevitably have
> to move into microscopic examination of how the lengths and
> diameters imperceptibly differ, how the ends of the strands
> are tapered in one case and not in the other, and so on -- to
> try and explain why I, personally, would rather have capelli
> d'angelo as the pasta in any kind of broth, but would prefer
> spaghettini as the pastasciutta to go with suitable sauces for
> such long thin pasta forms (olive oil, minced garlic, minced
> red peppers, and finely ground anchovies, for example - but if
> you sliced the garlic and peppers instead of mincing them, then
> you should choose the sounder body of spaghetti rather than the
> thinner evanescence of spaghettini, and would be well advised
> to forego the achoview and add instead some fresh spring basil
> [or even -- I'm a heretic...! -- light mint...] leaves -- at
> the very last moment before serving the dish).

What a wonderful runon sentence.  You must be an A. A. Milne fan.

> Ooops, sorry,
> it shows that I'm traveling abroad and haven't had pasta for
> a while, I guess.  But the analogy is still pretty good!-)

What I take away from it, is Python and Ruby are far more similar than
different.  So then one looks at industrial evolution - GUIs, tools,
community size, marketing, volunteer organization, mainstream commercial
use.  Python is clearly much farther along than Ruby.

> 2. Ruby's TOTAL, unbridled "dynamicity", including the ability
>    to "reopen" any existing class, including all built-in ones,
>    and change its behavior at run-time -- vs Python's vast but
>    _bounded_ dynamicity, which never changes the behavior of
>    existing built-in classes and their instances.

Others have mentioned this.  I imagine it would be a big ticket item for
some.  I can't figure out why I'd care myself, but maybe as I get into my
diplomacy AI, I will.

> BUT Python equally more suitable for use in large production
> applications.

Yes, this definitely matters from 10,000 miles up.

-- 
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.