Tell me...

Why is it that people think Python is so great and that Ruby sucks? I'd very much like to understand.

[airhead]

I thought it was the other way around
Maybe its because one language is more readable or logical than the other? Have a look at some perl code. Not very readable (Well thats from what I saw anyway)

[kenshi]

I think they both suck and only wusses use them, but you probably know that.

I'll ignore kenshi the assembleur troll, but here are some critics against Python:
- The interpreter does not automatically convert integers to big integers and backward when needed: you need to declare that your variable x will hold a large integer (you had a L after the number)

- To manipulate characters in a given string. Example in Python, then in Ruby:

a = 'Jello'
a = 'H' + a[1:]
print a

a = "Jello"
a[0] = "H"
puts a

The latter seems more natural to me

- There was a post recently on LNO: the guy asked how to get random numbers. THere were about 10 replies and they all had different methods. How about just one?

var = rand(10)

[Kint]

I'd just like to mention to everybuddy that GnuVince spent an entire afternoon in a private channel on irc.openprojects.net, coming up with reasons/examples of why Ruby is better than Python (according to him). I don't even know Ruby, but after talking with him for a while about it, I'm going to go learn it.

So, this is not a flame war .. It's an actual, intelligent discussion about programming languages!

I woudl also like to point out that Kint's life is easier because I wrote a script in Ruby for him!

[Kint]

Yes, it's saving me a truckload of work!

I'm gonna learn Python and Ruby when I have the time. I'm learning Perl and C now and they're both languages I really like so far.

I don't really care if one language is better than another, all I care is having fun really.

Ruby is fun. I'm sure Python is fun too. Can't tell (yet).

[Feztaa]

a = "Jello"
a[0] = "H"
puts a

I'm pretty sure that a similar thing can be done in Python. Never tried, though.

The latter seems more natural to me

And the idea that there is only one way to do it disturbs me.

How about just one?

Because then the language would be really boring and restrictive. Different methods of doing things can provide different functionality.