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Comment by Aloisius | Hacker News Reader

I was not expecting Python to be getting near as many votes as Ruby.

It is my favorite language simply because the pseudocode I write on whiteboards is basically Python. Strangely, it has been since well before I really started using it regularly.

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Python is rapidly replacing ruby as the de facto scripting language for automation. It's also starting to replace Java as the language of choice for teaching programming and CS.

With tools such as?

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Are you claiming I'm wrong or do you want me to do a google search for you?

A google search may not be as insightful as someone talking about a trend in popularity for a specific niche (automation.) I think the poster was just asking you to share specifics that helped form your opinion.

There are those who think that if a programming language is only usable with bloated tools, the programming language might be flawed.

That's interesting. It was exactly what I was thinking while reading the C# thread at the beginning of this article's comments. Yes, yes, mono whatever, but really ...

I never knew ruby was ever considered the "de facto language for automation". Maybe you are thinking of perl?

No, he's thinking of Ruby. Puppet and chef.

What is the Python equivalent to Puppet and chef?

Fabric comes to mind.

Fabric is more of a task-oriented SSH replacement with some really nice bells and whistles, much different from Puppet or Chef. Some folks are working on Salt Stack which is python-based and more akin to the others.

Fabric is more like Cap than Puppet / Chef

bcfg2 I have been using it for a few years now. Have enjoyed it much more than the other similar tools we evaluated: puppet/chef/cfengine

bcfg2 I have been using it for a few years now. Have enjoyed it much more than the other similar tools we evaluated: puppet, chef and cfengine

The only modern and novel alternative is http://saltstack.org

I was commenting on the popularity of Python in absolute terms, not necessarily in the context of a relationship with Ruby.

Python has been the de facto scripting language of choice for automation in a number of industries for quite some time.

I don't believe (but correct me if I'm wrong) that Ruby has ever gained much traction outside of the software development world. Perhaps we're just seeing some natural consolidation.

Ruby is the language that Puppet and Chef (the 2 most popular configuration management systems) are based on.

The roles Puppet and Chef fill are small parts of "automation".

Puppet is written in Ruby, but has it's own DSL, so it doesn't really count.

I find that I'm rather productive in python for scientific computing and go towards C (or occasionally even fortran) when I need something faster. I also find that it has a rather shallow learning curve for students who come in knowing java...

But generally, I think it's good to pick the right language for the right domain. I keep trying to find an excuse to learn Erlang ;>

  > ...go towards C (or occasionally even fortran) when I 
  > need something faster

Try cython next time.

Or PyPy.

Since he's specifically saying that he does scientific computing, PyPy is not a good suggestion. Pretty much all of the codebases of the stack for scientific computing can not be used in PyPy, and this will most likely not change in the foreseeable future since porting them is non-trivial.

I'm not trying to talk down PyPy here, but for this domain of application, it's not appropriate at the moment.

I'm not quite ready to cast my vote for Python, but this statement is so true. Basically all of my notes from planning stages as well as algorithms I'm looking at or working on... might as well already be in the interpreter.

Python seems to have higher penetration outside career programmers. When I learned Ruby about a decade ago, there was this "Ruby shouldn't be your first language" sentiment. I think there's been progress on that front, but Python had an early lead.

Some language generate a lot more noise then others--the noise is not at all correlated to actual usage or popularity.

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