Ben Sandofsky

I just don’t get why people stuck around Ruby to this point. Python checks the same boxes, it’s way more popular, and it’s run by fairly well adjusted people.

Python Drama: “Some APIs broke.”
Ruby Drama: “Major project leader went white nationalist.”

Oct 11 at 1:15amMastodon for iOS
Show threadRobinOct 11
@sandofsky
Perl drama: "still works"
Show threadEshu MarneediOct 11
@sandofsky Django enjoyers rejoice.
Show threadJan BiernackiOct 11
@sandofsky I was sure Ruby was passé more than a decade ago. Hearing about any serious company using it has made me go “huh” for most of my career! 😅
Show threadDanielOct 11

@sandofsky Ruby is more ergonomic and has better reflection than Python.

Also coming from Swift, it is easier to reason about (especially around closures compared to Python's whitespace approach):
https://confuzeus.com/posts/python-ruby-readability

If you ever need to do backend, nothing comes close to Rails in terms of speed, ecosystem (mastodon!), and "tinkerability" (check pry and rails console).

Why Ruby is More Readable than Python

Ruby and Python are quite similar but what makes Ruby more readable?

Show threadBen SandofskyOct 11

@danielinoa I spent five years writing Ruby full time, and that’s all surface level garbage that amounts to little, long term. You brain adjusts to language quirks and you move on.

A stable platform, simple constructs, and solid libraries maintained by grownups will make you more productive than syntax that looks pretty at first glance.

Show threadDanielOct 11

@sandofsky From personal experience I think Ruby has the surface level sugar that some like but also well-maintained libraries (could name a bunch).

Thanks to the contributions by the grownups at companies like Shopify, Stripe, and Github, to name a few I remember.

Show threadPaul Haddad Oct 11
@sandofsky isn’t the major drama in rails land not ruby itself?
Show threadAdam Bell Oct 11
@paul @sandofsky everything’s really off the rails
Show threadBen SandofskyOct 11

@paul It bled over, which seemed inevitable given Rails was the dominant reason people used Ruby, last I checked.

The top RubyGems sponsor pulled out after the org invited DHH to speak. Shopify stepped in to bail it out, but also take it over, ousting existing maintainers.

Things get even more chaotic from there, but at this point I need an almanac to track all the drama.

Show threadJanne MorenOct 11

@sandofsky
I personally prefer Ruby over Python. It fits how I think better - I rarely have to look up how to do something, whereas I'm fighting with Python all the time.

But I haven't used Ruby in years. I need Numpy, Scipy and so on, and Python is the scripting language of choice for scientific software. So Python it is.

But it's fair to say I use Numpy and so on despite Python, not because of it.