I was googling for DRb alternatives in Python (I found pyro and dopy, but decided on pyro as it has an Ubuntu package), and came across this excellent post. Check it out, but this is the jam of the toast:
To me, from a practical programming perspective (say that 10 times
fast), Python and Ruby are *very* similar. Obvious differences are of
course, things like the indentation thing; Ruby feeling more like
object-orientated stuff was baked in rather than added on; Python being
a little faster, etc.
I went back and forth trying to decide. What finally sold me on Ruby
was a feature that I had little use for until Hal Fulton helped the
light bulb to go on above my head. Blocks! More specifically, blocks
used as closures.
Hal convinced me to rewrite KirbyBase and allow the user to specify
query syntax using blocks. When I finally figured out how easy it was
to add this functionality and how much power it gave the user to specify
queries, I was sold.
What really put me over the top was when I recently went back and
rewrote the Python version of KirbyBase and tried to duplicate all of
the functionality of the new Ruby version. Python doesn’t have blocks.
It has lambda, but it is pretty crippled. In Python, a lambda can only
be one expression and you can’t do assignment in a lambda. What’s
worse, Guido doesn’t even like lambda and he is planning on removing it
from the language.
Now, you can still do closures in Python by actually passing a named
function, but using blocks is just so much more elegant.
Before this, I had *used* blocks for things like #collect and #each.
But it was only when I started having my own user-defined methods accept
and use blocks that I really started to understand how powerful they
make Ruby.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. To make a long story short, I chose
Ruby. I still program in Python on the side. I’m hoping to soon
release a Python version of KirbyBase that is equivalent to the Ruby
version. But, without those blocks, it’s just not as much fun (although
list comprehensions are cool!). Hope this helps answer your question.
Jamey Cribbs
