Is Python more popular than Ruby?

Python and Ruby are two of the most popular new generation programming languages ​​that are dynamically entered, scripting languages ​​with strong support for object oriented programming architecture and whose implementation is quite different from the prevailing programming languages ​​such as Java and C. None of the new languages ​​have string syntax or hierarchy and instead focuses on helping developers “do things quickly” instead of worrying about missed half-colonies or closing curls. Then both Python and Ruby have interactive shell and library collections that make the respective languages ​​more powerful. They are also widely used for web development using their respective frameworks – Django (Python) and Ruby on Rails. So while Python and Ruby are similar in many ways, they are also rival languages ​​and have some key differences. But first, let’s review a brief overview of the two languages.


Designed by Japanese computer scientist Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, Ruby was released in 1995 as a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented programming language for general purposes. Ruby’s philosophy revolves around the idea that a programming language should be user (developer) -friendly rather than being created to run best on the machine. In other words, programming language should not be such that while programming focus should not be on what the machine can do, rather it should let the programmer work in the best way to perform a task. Ruby’s Principle of Least Astonishment (POLA) reflects the ethos that existing code should create the least confusion among developers because of the elegant way it is written.

Ruby is highly object oriented, each value including classes, instances of types and even methods are treated as objects. Methods that are defined at the top level become members of the Object class, which is the progenitor of all other classes and as such are visible in all fields of application that serve as a global procedure. Ruby has been described as a multi-paradigm programming language as it supports both procedural programming and functional programming. Ruby’s syntax is somewhat similar to Perl and Python, but with a strong influence on its object-oriented architecture. Ruby also has its community of developers who follow its development closely and help develop “gems”, Ruby’s term for libraries and, in a few cases, applications and IDEs. Ruby is open source and Ruby’s main strength, however, is the framework Ruby on Rails, which popularized the language tremendously after its release in 2005 and has been used to develop popular sites such as Twitter and Groupon.


Python is a high-level programming language that is also defined as multi-paradigm programming language to support object-oriented programming, structured programming, functional programming and aspect-oriented programming among others. It was first implemented in 1989 by Guido Van Rossum in 1989, but gained tremendous popularity in the 2000s. Contrary to Perl and Ruby’s philosophy of “many ways to do one thing,” Python’s motto “” There must be one – and preferably only one – obvious way to do it. “Is a direct challenge for Perl as well as Ruby and is mainly taken into account in the competition between the two new generation languages. What distinguishes Python, however, is the strict layout of the language, so that even the indentation of a white space is central to the code structure. But the Python code is easy to read, which almost makes it similar to pseudo-code, so it’s easy to learn for beginners and offers the best readability for experienced programmers. Python also has a wide collection of libraries, the official Python Libraries Archive (Python Package Index) offers features as diverse as graphical user interfaces, multimedia, web frameworks, database connectivity, networking and communication, system administration, test frameworks, automation, text and image processing , scientific computing to name a few. Also Python is c Compatible with most platforms and is bundled with most Linux distributions.

Popularity of Python Over Ruby

While both Python and Ruby had been around for some time, Ruby gained popularity with the arrival of the Ruby on Rails framework in 2005. By that time, Python had already established itself as a program-friendly and powerful language, creating a niche for itself. Although Ruby on Rails remains a more popular framework compared to Python’s Django, it also means that Ruby has been limited to web development frameworks, while Python has diversified and emerged as the preferred language in several other areas. Python has also collected a larger community of users who are loyal to it, and a large stock of library modules and documentation. While Ruby also has some very dedicated programmers advocating for it, the fact remains that Python still manages to have a larger community of Python collaborators.

One of the main reasons for Python’s popularity is its language architecture which makes it easier to both write and read code. As it is easy to learn, many beginners adopt it, and schools and colleges include it as part of their curriculum. Since code readability is a strong merit for Python, experienced programmers also adopt it to cut down on code maintenance and upgrades. Further, Python works well on most platforms and is included as a standard component with most Linux distributions, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OS X and AmigaOS4 and is fully compatible with other operating systems including Windows, making language accessibility for the programmers easy and encouraging beginners to explore it. From a simple web search, it appears that Python is the most popular language among the two new generation programming languages.

According to Wikipedia, Python has been in the eight most popular languages ​​since 2008 in the TIOBE Programming Community Index, indicating that its popularity has been very consistent. In the TIOBE index for July 2015, Python occupies the 5th position, while Ruby is pushed down to the 15th. Thus, it would be safe to conclude that Python is much more popular than Ruby.