Personally, I find that Python and Ruby are comparable as it relates to utility. I'd think it is fair to say that argument is a wash. It is Ruby's expressivenes

Personally, I find that Python and Ruby are comparable as it relates to utility. I'd think it is fair to say that argument is a wash. It is Ruby's expressiveness that makes it my choice before Python: --- Ruby --- letters = ['a', 'b', 'c'] letters.map &:capitalize --- Python --- letters = ['a', 'b', 'c'] capitalize = lambda x: x.capitalize() map(capitalize, letters) --- PHP --- <?php $letters = ['a', 'b', 'c']; array_map('strtoupper', $letters); Of course, this is one example where PHP (5.4+) at least somewhat resembles Python. I think that is why some of the more experienced PHP developers tend to choose to go with Python as their PHP recovery language. Personally, I prefer "letters.map" (Ruby) over "map(...)" and "array_map(...)"; however, that is a personal style preference and has nothing to do with technical merit. And I still enjoy writing Python here and there. PHP is also still a necessity much of the time. That being said, there are a few edge cases that I've witnessed where Python actually reads better than Ruby; though, these cases are few.