3 ms·

> I’ll never not be bitter than Python “won” the scripting language war over Ruby, more or less just because someone did a bit of AI work in it first and it too

> I’ll never not be bitter than Python “won” the scripting language war over Ruby, more or less just because someone did a bit of AI work in it first and it took over that space by default. This is just my personal opinion with no data to back it up, but I suspect that Python "won" because it has excellent Windows support, while Ruby doesn't. Even a decade ago, Python's website offered an official native Windows installer [0], while Ruby's website [1] still points you to a third-party installer, which doesn't even have native support since it uses MSYS2 [2]. Most non-developers use Windows, so if you're choosing the first language to teach a large group of people, good Windows support is fairly important. Python being the "default" introductory language gave it a huge number of users, then I suspect that everything flowed down from there. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20160824235759/https://www.python.org/ https://web.archive.org/web/20160824235759/https://www.pytho... [1]: https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/ https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/ [2]: https://rubyinstaller.org/ https://rubyinstaller.org/

Izkata 1mo ago
> but I suspect that Python "won" because it has excellent Windows support, while Ruby doesn't. Even a decade ago, Python's website offered an official native Windows installer I think you might be able to go an additional decade backwards. Back in college most of my friends were on windows and one of them was using python for class projects.
- gucci-on-fleek 1mo ago
  > I think you might be able to go an additional decade backwards Yeah, Python has had good Windows support at least 15 [0] or 25 years [1], depending on how you count it. > Back in college most of my friends were on windows and one of them was using python for class projects. Well it's always been possible to install Ruby on Windows too, it's just that Python supports it so much better. [0]: https://peps.python.org/pep-0397/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0397/ [1]: https://peps.python.org/pep-0277/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0277/
frollogaston 1mo ago
This could be it. The classic student with a Windows laptop and git-bash installed, where they think git and bash are the same thing, also PuTTY. I also wonder how many people gave up on Python just because the installer doesn't put it in your PATH. You'd install Python then no python, wtf. Ok so https://discuss.python.org/t/python-command-not-found/22255 https://discuss.python.org/t/python-command-not-found/22255 ... Then you fix it and it runs the wrong version of Python.

Izkata 1mo ago

> but I suspect that Python "won" because it has excellent Windows support, while Ruby doesn't. Even a decade ago, Python's website offered an official native Windows installer I think you might be able to go an additional decade backwards. Back in college most of my friends were on windows and one of them was using python for class projects.

gucci-on-fleek 1mo ago
> I think you might be able to go an additional decade backwards Yeah, Python has had good Windows support at least 15 [0] or 25 years [1], depending on how you count it. > Back in college most of my friends were on windows and one of them was using python for class projects. Well it's always been possible to install Ruby on Windows too, it's just that Python supports it so much better. [0]: https://peps.python.org/pep-0397/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0397/ [1]: https://peps.python.org/pep-0277/ https://peps.python.org/pep-0277/

frollogaston 1mo ago

This could be it. The classic student with a Windows laptop and git-bash installed, where they think git and bash are the same thing, also PuTTY. I also wonder how many people gave up on Python just because the installer doesn't put it in your PATH. You'd install Python then no python, wtf. Ok so https://discuss.python.org/t/python-command-not-found/22255 https://discuss.python.org/t/python-command-not-found/22255 ... Then you fix it and it runs the wrong version of Python.