This is the reason I stuck with Python for my development and production code. Python scientific programs running on the backend, using all sorts of fancy libra

This is the reason I stuck with Python for my development and production code. Python scientific programs running on the backend, using all sorts of fancy libraries (NLTK and numpy mostly) and then a Django frontend that plugs right in. I'm dabbling with RoR and it's certainly pleasing at times, but there are the odd bits of Python I keep running into that make me smile too. Especially map. :] To me it seems that half the anti-Python sentiment is because you can write some truly terrible Python code, just as you can write some truly terrible Java code. You can also write some elegant Python code (although there are some situations where you just will run into those damned underscores), but it's in the minority. Coming from Perl (no, really) and Python, my main issue with trying to learn Ruby is all the extra syntax and punctuation. It just looks and feels wrong until you force your way through it and see it from the other side. There are some really nice advanced features of the language (I sat in on an advanced Ruby class and found it surprisingly easy to follow given a background in ML, Perl and others) so I'm still going to persevere and learn it, but I'm still at the "Ruby feels arse-backward" stage. I think to me Ruby feels like Python does to Rubyists. Sort of.