Python vs. Rigor Monitoring & Optimization vs. Ruby vs. ZenScript Comparison Chart

The core of extensible programming is defining functions. Python allows mandatory and optional arguments, keyword arguments, and even arbitrary argument lists. Whether you're new to programming or an experienced developer, it's easy to learn and use Python. Python can be easy to pick up whether you're a first-time programmer or you're experienced with other languages. The following pages are a useful first step to get on your way to writing programs with Python! The community hosts conferences and meetups to collaborate on code, and much more. Python's documentation will help you along the way, and the mailing lists will keep you in touch. The Python Package Index (PyPI) hosts thousands of third-party modules for Python. Both Python's standard library and the community-contributed modules allow for endless possibilities.

Wondering why Ruby is so popular? Its fans call it a beautiful, artful language. And yet, they say it’s handy and practical. Since its public release in 1995, Ruby has drawn devoted coders worldwide. In 2006, Ruby achieved mass acceptance. With active user groups formed in the world’s major cities and Ruby-related conferences filled to capacity. Ruby-Talk, the primary mailing list for discussion of the Ruby language, climbed to an average of 200 messages per day in 2006. It has dropped in recent years as the size of the community pushed discussion from one central list into many smaller groups. Ruby is ranked among the top 10 on most of the indices that measure the growth and popularity of programming languages worldwide (such as the TIOBE index). Much of the growth is attributed to the popularity of software written in Ruby, particularly the Ruby on Rails web framework.