Monday, January 26, 2009

Ruby or Python

I'm trying to figure out if I should learn Ruby or Python next. Both seem like popular languages and ideally I'd like to learn them both. But one has to come first. Since my current motivation for learning anything new is to make myself more valuable to potential employers I'm going to use that as the basis for my choice.

I loaded up Craigslist (SF Bay Area) this morning and performed a few searches.

All Jobs
Ruby = 125
Python = 133

This would seem to tip the scales in favor of Python. But I'm a web guy so I'm specifically interested in Internet Engineering jobs. Let's see how the numbers break down when I apply that filter.

Internet Engineering Jobs
Ruby = 45
Python = 32

That would seem to favor Ruby. Let's try the search terms for their respective web application frameworks.

Internet Engineering Jobs
Rails = 28
Django = 10

That seals it. I'm learning Ruby. Not that I'm trying to pit one language against the other. I'm just making a practical decision about which one to learn first. I've heard very positive things about both would like to eventually get into both.

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