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Thanks, this is more along the lines I was looking for. I started using Python because PHP (my usual web language of choice) has quite poor libraries for SOAP requests, and Python was easy to use as a glue script to fill the SOAP holes in my program. One of the things I wanted to ask that went largely unanswered is what kinds of typical library coding activities are not very well supported in either language? For instance: -MARC i/o (both have this covered, I know, but it is a prime example) -XML tools -SPARQL tools -Working with Solr -MySQL/Postgres tools -Screen scraping tools -SOAP/REST tools ...etc. And I am limiting my inquiry to Python and Ruby because I am looking for quick "glue script" languages and not something to write a whole web app. For instance, something I can schedule as a cron task to get some remote data and index it locally. I would use PHP or Java for a full-blown application. I guess I should include Perl in the discussion, too, but Perl's syntax is a little heady for me. I am not trying to be incendiary here, so I hope you all do not respond to me as such. I think these are pretty reasonable and concrete questions. It's not like I'm asking "What's the best language?" in a general and open-ended way. Josh Welker Information Technology Librarian James C. Kirkpatrick Library University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, MO 64093 JCKL 2260 660.543.8022 -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Turnbull Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 12:17 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Python and Ruby I think it mostly comes down to what you're looking for out of the language choice. Both are great language. I love the explicitness and community around Python, the meta-programming features of Ruby are a lot of fun as well. Both have great communities that support a lot of diversity. I feel python comes out a bit better on this but only just a bit. Some great fits for Python in libraries. - Syntax is easy to learn so if you have to get a team working on the same skillset this is a big advantage. - If you need to work with scholars who need to learn programming, the easy of learning python is a big advantage here. - If you work in natural language processing or with geo-spacial data then python is particularly well suited. - You need a stable language with good backwards compatibility. Some great fits for Ruby in libraries: - If you do a lot of web development Rails is an obvious advantage, though rails dominance is almost a disservice to the Ruby community by how much it obscures the language. - If you work with unstructured data I think Ruby comes out a little on top (just a little) and there are some neat meta-programming techniques to read and work with XML in ruby. - You work in a DevOps environment and need to do a lot of server provisioning, the Puppet library offers a lot to a group and leverages Ruby. - In libraries custom Fedora repository work is often done using the Hydra gems I don't think there's one better choice, it just comes down to knowing what you need to develop as far as a local community goes and picking the one that is best suited for those use cases. That said, I tend to enjoy working in Python more than Ruby. Most of my gripes with Ruby are actually probably with Rails so as a language I really do think they are both fine and I only have a slight preference for one. On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Joshua Welker <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Not intending to start a language flame war/holy war here, but in the > library coding community, is there a particular reason to use Ruby > over Python or vice-versa? I am personally comfortable with Python, > but I have noticed that there is a big Ruby following in Code4Lib and > similar communities. Am I going to be able to contribute and work > better with the community if I use Ruby rather than Python? > > I am 100% aware that there is no objective way to answer which of the > two languages is the best. I am interested in the much more narrow > question of which will work better for library-related scripting > projects in terms of the following factors: > > -existing modules that I can re-use that are related to libraries > (MARC tools, XML/RDF tools, modules released by major vendors, etc) > -availability of help from others in the community -interest/ability > of others to re-use my code > > Thanks. > > Josh Welker > Information Technology Librarian > James C. Kirkpatrick Library > University of Central Missouri > Warrensburg, MO 64093 > JCKL 2260 > 660.543.8022 > -- *Scott Turnbull* APTrust Technical Lead [log in to unmask] www.aptrust.org 678-379-9488