Python Popularity: Questions and Comments

[Ron Stephens]

Thanks, Dave. I suspect you are right about this. When I went searching
for a "scripting" language to learn, about 10 months ago,  (after
becoming frustrated with Java as a "hobby" language) I really narrowed
down the field to just Python and Ruby. I was quite torn because I liked
what I saw of Ruby from the Pickaxe book, its a great book! But I
ultimately chose Python because I perceived it might be a little easier
for me to learn. After all, I have no "C" background at all and no Perl
experience either; and rightly or wrongly, what I could find on the web
and in the two newsgroups helped me make a close decision to try Python.

Dave Thomas wrote:

> Ron Stephens <rdsteph at earthlink.net> writes:
>
> > Thus, while I admire Ruby, I suspect that it divides the pool of
> > developers who might otherwise be all in the Python *camp*.
>
> From personal experience, I have to disagree. I tried many times to
> like Python. I used it on projects and for personal work, but it
> never clicked. I couldn't tell you why, and I know it isn't a failing
> of the language. It's just that Python and my brain have some kind of
> impedance mismatch.
>
> When I tried Ruby, I fell in love within an hour, so much so that I
> was driven to write a book about it.
>
> This isn't a "Ruby is better than Python" response. It's just an
> observation. Ruby and Python are different, and I suspect there is a
> substantial body of developers out there who, like me, have a
> preference for one over the other. I don't believe that Ruby is
> raiding the Python camp. I believe that Ruby is attracting people to
> OO scripting who would not otherwise be doing it.
>
> Regards
>
> Dave