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> Are there any popular non-Rails uses for Ruby? No. I'm going to get downvoted for this, but Ruby isn't popular itself (with or without Rails). It's barely mo

by smt88 5y ago

> Are there any popular non-Rails uses for Ruby? No. I'm going to get downvoted for this, but Ruby isn't popular itself (with or without Rails). It's barely more popular than Fortran, according to TIOBE[1]. It cracks the top 10 according to Redmonk, but has been generally declining since 2012[2]. Somewhat shockingly, it's even less widely used than Rust according to Stack Overflow[3]. They also found Ruby has a 53% loved vs. 47% dreaded score, compared to Python's 68% and 32%. It's especially surprising that Stack Overflow's respondents like Ruby less than JavaScript and SQL, the two most frustrating languages I have ever been forced to work with myself. > Python and Ruby occupy the same space and use cases This is absolutely untrue. I personally loathe Python, but it is perhaps the most useful language you can learn right now, and it barely overlaps with Ruby. It's huge in statistics/data science and machine learning. It's not the most common web backend, but it still has a fairly large ecosystem for the web. It's rapidly rising in popularity, too. 1. https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ 2. https://redmonk.com/kfitzpatrick/2021/03/02/redmonk-top-20-languages-over-time-january-2021/ https://redmonk.com/kfitzpatrick/2021/03/02/redmonk-top-20-l... 3. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-popular-technologies-language https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-popular-...

Mikeb85 5y ago
Tiobe and Stack Overflow rankings don't mean much. Look how popular Tiobe ranks VB due to Excel macros, or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it.
- Hamuko 5y ago
  >or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it. Isn't the Stack Overflow one done by a survey, not just by analyzing the questions?
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    You're right, although doesn't really change my premise. I use Bash everyday, even though I have never tried learning it, don't really care about it, etc... I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. People just use them because they're there... Making the rankings a lot less meaningful.
    - Hamuko 5y ago
      >I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. I'd be willing to bet money that Bash is way, way more popular in development than Go.
      - regularfry 5y ago
        If you mean popular as in "many people are using it", probably. If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity.
        smt88 5y ago
        > If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity. According to Stack Overflow's survey[1], people enjoy Bash/Shell more than they enjoy Ruby. I personally hate both Ruby and Bash, so I assume my sanity is beyond question. 1. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-language-love-dread https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dr...
      - Mikeb85 5y ago
        Again though, you have to qualify that. > in development This can be taken a few ways. I don't use Go, but I interact with Bash. So you're right in a sense. I'd also never write a web-app in bash, nor a non-trivial program, nor anything that isn't a shell script. So is it really meaningful when people are looking for a language to write a GUI app, web app, mobile app or game in?
- smt88 5y ago
  I cited the three most popular rankings. I don't know what else to do here. My own personal experience as a CTO and startup investor: I haven't seen Ruby (or even met someone whose primary language is Ruby) in a long time. I think it had a moment ~10 years ago when a lot of people started companies using Rails. Some of them still use it, most of them just went out of business. It hasn't been big since then. It seemed to only ever have become popular in a fairly limited bubble of startups, especially in Silicon Valley.
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    I mean, it's not Java, C#, Go or JS. It never was that big. But some pretty successful startups used it and some successful companies today use it. It's been a tool used to spawn quite a few billion+ dollar companies.
    - pmontra 5y ago
      Honestly, is Go as big as those three other languages?
      - Mikeb85 5y ago
        Not yet, but it's now in the category of "You won't get fired for picking X". It's seen as enterprise-y and 'safe' and yes, is definitely quite used. The fact it's used internally at Google and MS alone means it's got traction. I'm willing to bet lots of enterprise shops are using it for things, even if it's not #1.
      - ksec 5y ago
        The important question is would you have enough choices in Job Hunting if all you know is Go. And Go seems to be close to if not already a self sustainable status.
    - smt88 5y ago
      I agree, but we're talking about whether a language is popular, aren't we? Ruby is a fine language that some people have ridden to great success. It is still a fairly niche language. We're on a popular website written in Arc -- likely the only website written in Arc. Popularity isn't everything and I'm not suggesting it is.
klelatti 5y ago
Broadly agree but I have to say I’m quite happy with where Ruby has settled now. It’s not going to vanish anytime soon and the Ruby team continue to push improvements. Unlike Python the ecosystem hasn’t become so large that it’s become impossible to keep track of. It’s likely to remain my go to language for small projects in large part because writing Ruby is just fun!
montblanc 5y ago
Ok the Tiobe => Fortran is complete horse shit and we all know it. Fortan and Perl are both more popular than Go in that ranking I mean come on. But sure I agree Ruby is a nichey language, usage-wise about the same as Swift/Scala or maybe even Go. Somewhere in the top 10-15 I'd guess. If you look at web backend languages (e.g remove C/Visual Basic/C++) Ruby is probably top 10.
- smt88 5y ago
  Fortran is used a lot in science and engineering. My ex was an evolutionary biologist and used it, as did everyone in her department.
  - montblanc 5y ago
    What for? I know nothing about it but why not Python? Still haven't heard of anyone using it where I live.
    - stephenhuey 5y ago
      Here are a few answers: https://www.quora.com/When-do-I-use-FORTRAN-over-Python-and-why https://www.quora.com/When-do-I-use-FORTRAN-over-Python-and-...

by smt88 5y ago

Mikeb85 5y ago

Tiobe and Stack Overflow rankings don't mean much. Look how popular Tiobe ranks VB due to Excel macros, or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it.

Hamuko 5y ago
>or SO ranks Bash and PowerShell very highly simply because people ask a lot of questions about it. Isn't the Stack Overflow one done by a survey, not just by analyzing the questions?
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  You're right, although doesn't really change my premise. I use Bash everyday, even though I have never tried learning it, don't really care about it, etc... I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. People just use them because they're there... Making the rankings a lot less meaningful.
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    >I really don't think Bash and Powershell are more popular for actual development than C++ and Go respectively. I'd be willing to bet money that Bash is way, way more popular in development than Go.
    - regularfry 5y ago
      If you mean popular as in "many people are using it", probably. If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity.
      - smt88 5y ago
        > If you mean popular as in "many people like using it", I would question your (and their) sanity. According to Stack Overflow's survey[1], people enjoy Bash/Shell more than they enjoy Ruby. I personally hate both Ruby and Bash, so I assume my sanity is beyond question. 1. https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-language-love-dread https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2021#most-loved-dr...
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Again though, you have to qualify that. > in development This can be taken a few ways. I don't use Go, but I interact with Bash. So you're right in a sense. I'd also never write a web-app in bash, nor a non-trivial program, nor anything that isn't a shell script. So is it really meaningful when people are looking for a language to write a GUI app, web app, mobile app or game in?
smt88 5y ago
I cited the three most popular rankings. I don't know what else to do here. My own personal experience as a CTO and startup investor: I haven't seen Ruby (or even met someone whose primary language is Ruby) in a long time. I think it had a moment ~10 years ago when a lot of people started companies using Rails. Some of them still use it, most of them just went out of business. It hasn't been big since then. It seemed to only ever have become popular in a fairly limited bubble of startups, especially in Silicon Valley.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  I mean, it's not Java, C#, Go or JS. It never was that big. But some pretty successful startups used it and some successful companies today use it. It's been a tool used to spawn quite a few billion+ dollar companies.
  - pmontra 5y ago
    Honestly, is Go as big as those three other languages?
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Not yet, but it's now in the category of "You won't get fired for picking X". It's seen as enterprise-y and 'safe' and yes, is definitely quite used. The fact it's used internally at Google and MS alone means it's got traction. I'm willing to bet lots of enterprise shops are using it for things, even if it's not #1.
    - ksec 5y ago
      The important question is would you have enough choices in Job Hunting if all you know is Go. And Go seems to be close to if not already a self sustainable status.
  - smt88 5y ago
    I agree, but we're talking about whether a language is popular, aren't we? Ruby is a fine language that some people have ridden to great success. It is still a fairly niche language. We're on a popular website written in Arc -- likely the only website written in Arc. Popularity isn't everything and I'm not suggesting it is.

klelatti 5y ago

Broadly agree but I have to say I’m quite happy with where Ruby has settled now. It’s not going to vanish anytime soon and the Ruby team continue to push improvements. Unlike Python the ecosystem hasn’t become so large that it’s become impossible to keep track of. It’s likely to remain my go to language for small projects in large part because writing Ruby is just fun!

montblanc 5y ago

Ok the Tiobe => Fortran is complete horse shit and we all know it. Fortan and Perl are both more popular than Go in that ranking I mean come on. But sure I agree Ruby is a nichey language, usage-wise about the same as Swift/Scala or maybe even Go. Somewhere in the top 10-15 I'd guess. If you look at web backend languages (e.g remove C/Visual Basic/C++) Ruby is probably top 10.

smt88 5y ago
Fortran is used a lot in science and engineering. My ex was an evolutionary biologist and used it, as did everyone in her department.
- montblanc 5y ago
  What for? I know nothing about it but why not Python? Still haven't heard of anyone using it where I live.
  - stephenhuey 5y ago
    Here are a few answers: https://www.quora.com/When-do-I-use-FORTRAN-over-Python-and-why https://www.quora.com/When-do-I-use-FORTRAN-over-Python-and-...