Python and Ruby: A comparison of the language basics

/ Chris Nielsen

In this table I will compare some basic programming syntax and conventions between the Python and Ruby programming languages.

Programming element Python Ruby
Commenting code: Both use the pound # sign.
 # This is a comment # This is a comment
Multi-line comments:
 
"""
This is a comment.
This is a comment, too.
This is a comment, too.
"""
 
=begin
This is a comment.
This is a comment, too.
This is a comment, too.
=end
Identifying variable type:
 type(variable) variable.class 
Creating a variable that contains an int (Fixnum in Ruby): age = 25 age = 25
negative_number = -25
Creating a variable that contains a float: probability = 0.62 probability = 0.62
Creating a variable that contains a string:
Python supports single, double, and triple quotes.		 state = 'North Dakota'
state = "North Dakota"
state = """North Dakota"""		 state = 'North Dakota'
state = "North Dakota"
Denoting string literals:
Python uses an ‘r’ in front of the string. Ruby requires backslashes to escape characters.		 path = r'\path\to\some\files'
path = r"\path\to\some\files"
path = r"""\path\to\some\files"""		 path = "\\path\\to\\some\\files"
path = '\\path\\to\\some\\files'

# prints That's right
single_quotes1 = 'That\'s right'
dbl_quotes1 = "That's right"

# prints escape using \
single_quotes2 = 'escape using \\'
dbl_quotes2 = "escape using \\"
String Concatenation: greeting = "Hello" + " world"

greeting = str1 + str2

 greeting = "Hello" + " world"

greeting = "Hello" << " world"

greeting = "Hello"
greeting.concat(" World")
Creating a list or array: fruit_list = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry'] fruit_list = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
Getting the length of a list or array: length = len(fruit_list) length = fruit_list.length

length = fruit_list.size
Python dictionary vs. Ruby hash:
 fruit = {'a':'apple', 'b':'banana', 'c':'cherry'} fruit = {"a" => "apple", "b" => "banana", "c" => "cherry"}
Getting keys from a dictionary or object: fruit_keys = fruit.keys() fruit_keys = fruit.keys
Getting values from a dictionary or object: fruit_values = fruit.values() fruit_values = fruit.values
Adding key-value pairs to a dictionary or object: fruit['o'] = 'orange' fruit[:'o'] = 'orange'
fruit[:l] = 'lemon'
fruit['o'] = 'orange'
fruit.store("g", "grape")
Deleting key-value pairs from a dictionary or object: del fruit['c'] fruit.delete(:'o')
fruit.delete('g')

Python was invented in the late 1980s (1989) by Guido van Rossum. Ideas for Python were adopted from Modula-3 and Lisp.

Ruby was invented in the mid-1990s. According to Wikipedia:

Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, object-oriented, general-purpose programming language. It was designed and developed in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto in Japan.

According to its creator, Ruby was influenced by Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including functional, object-oriented, and imperative. It also has a dynamic type system and automatic memory management.

 

Leave a Reply