Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation

A practitioner’s introspective on technology

Which DLR language should I choose? Is it now IronRuby vs. IronPython.

This post is not about creating a language zealot’s war – let me make that absolutely clear from the outset. What this post is about is a question, how does one go about making their minds up in choosing a language for developing in the dynamic world of the DLR?

For my part so far I have delved into IronRuby and started to employ it for scripting my C# applications. Why did I choose IronRuby over IronPython? It began with curiosity in the Ruby language in general and led inevitably to IronRuby. I quickly acquired a taste for Ruby but there is something nagging in the back of my mind and I can’t get to the bottom of it - “did I choose the right language” and really after all “does it matter which one I choose?

Given Pythons relationship to C and my emotional connection to the C family of languages, would IronPython have been a better choice? Certainly IronPython is further down the track and more mature than IronRuby at this stage, but what does that count for at this early stage? All these questions make me curious for some other opinions which I would leave to hear right here, so please tell me – what do you think? What criteria would you use to make a choice?

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2 Comments so far

  1. Simon Segal June 19th, 2009 6:54 am

    Web developers will quickly point out Rails as a possible differentiator. Unfortunately I am desktop / soa guy and Rails does not bring me closer to a choice.

    [Reply]

  2. Simon Segal June 21st, 2009 6:11 pm

    Ruby enthusiasts may also point out the Ruby has a ‘relationship’ to the C family, however my point is that the relationship seems to have bled into the language more deeply in the case of Python.

    [Reply]

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