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JavaScript took over the world. Then data science became a thing.

by fny 4y ago

UncleOxidant 4y ago
Sure, but Ruby could've been a player in data science as well. But for some reason Python won handily in that space. Was it all down to numpy, scipy, etc?
- dwheeler 4y ago
  Yes, I think numpy, scipy, and pandas were key.
- cogman10 4y ago
  I think it's because ruby got pigeonholed. Working with ruby became synonymous with working on rails to the detriment of the rest of the ecosystem.
- skrtskrt 4y ago
  Additionally, I think there are a lot of non-programmers, non-engineers working in data analysis or data "science" and Python syntax is much more approachable for a beginner. Lots of starter programming courses whether university or online are in Python, etc. Again if you're not actually and engineer or developer of sorts, you're not likely to spend much time and effort moving on from the language you already know that everyone else in your field using, etc.
- joshmn 4y ago
  Whenever this subject comes up, people seem to forget how poorly Ruby plays with Windows. WSL helps a lot and gives you a practical experience, but it'll never be a first-class citizen on Windows like Python is.
  - UncleOxidant 4y ago
    Maybe, but most data science jobs I see (and have been around) seem to be using Linux... with a few on MacOS. Lack of Windows support doesn't seem like a problem in the realm of data science.
    - pjmlp 4y ago
      With 80% of the desktop market, most IT shops work on Windows desktops before submitting their work into a Linux cluster.
- importantbrian 4y ago
  The answer to that is yes. Python was already used a lot in science and when Data Science started to blow up it already had numpy, scipy, scikit-learn and pandas. Also those libraries are really fast because they're wrapping highly optimized Cython, c, c++, and Fortran. I don't think Ruby had anything like that at the time.
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    Any language with FFI can have similar bindings to the same libraries used by Python, see Java, .NET (C#/F#), Julia, Swift,..... yet it doesn't seem to happen for Ruby.
eek2121 4y ago
As someone who makes a record high salary doing Rails development, I beg to differ.

JavaScript took over the world. Then data science became a thing.

by fny 4y ago

JavaScript took over the world. Then data science became a thing.

Sure, but Ruby could've been a player in data science as well. But for some reason Python won handily in that space. Was it all down to numpy, scipy, etc?

dwheeler 4y ago
Yes, I think numpy, scipy, and pandas were key.
cogman10 4y ago
I think it's because ruby got pigeonholed. Working with ruby became synonymous with working on rails to the detriment of the rest of the ecosystem.
skrtskrt 4y ago
Additionally, I think there are a lot of non-programmers, non-engineers working in data analysis or data "science" and Python syntax is much more approachable for a beginner. Lots of starter programming courses whether university or online are in Python, etc. Again if you're not actually and engineer or developer of sorts, you're not likely to spend much time and effort moving on from the language you already know that everyone else in your field using, etc.
joshmn 4y ago
Whenever this subject comes up, people seem to forget how poorly Ruby plays with Windows. WSL helps a lot and gives you a practical experience, but it'll never be a first-class citizen on Windows like Python is.
- UncleOxidant 4y ago
  Maybe, but most data science jobs I see (and have been around) seem to be using Linux... with a few on MacOS. Lack of Windows support doesn't seem like a problem in the realm of data science.
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    With 80% of the desktop market, most IT shops work on Windows desktops before submitting their work into a Linux cluster.
importantbrian 4y ago
The answer to that is yes. Python was already used a lot in science and when Data Science started to blow up it already had numpy, scipy, scikit-learn and pandas. Also those libraries are really fast because they're wrapping highly optimized Cython, c, c++, and Fortran. I don't think Ruby had anything like that at the time.
- pjmlp 4y ago
  Any language with FFI can have similar bindings to the same libraries used by Python, see Java, .NET (C#/F#), Julia, Swift,..... yet it doesn't seem to happen for Ruby.

eek2121 4y ago

As someone who makes a record high salary doing Rails development, I beg to differ.