As far as I can tell, Python has a much broader base than Ruby, at least in the english-speaking world, but is generally quieter about it. As a few examples:
Thanks to SciPy, NumPy, Sage, and so on, Python is extremely popular in scientific computing and academia in general, drawing hundreds each year to Enthought's Scientific Python conference.
Apple's iCal Server is written in Python with the aid of the Twisted async library, the same library used by LucasFilm for communications in its render farm, or Justin.tv's caching engine.
Google has found great success with Python: YouTube, for instance, is written in Python.
Thousands of undergraduates have their introduction to computer science each year taught in Python, even at MIT.
And let's not forget the sizable Django, Pyramid, and Plone web development communities, all of which seem to have surprisingly little overlap.
The thing is, Python's been around for a long time -- longer than Java -- and it's been useful for a similarly long time, especially in the same domains that Perl traditionally excelled at. Thus, its growth was bottom-up: Many sysadmins were eventually expected to simply know Python just as they were expected to know Shell and Perl, and thus being functionally proficient in Python wasn't really a defining characteristic.
In this way, Python's expansion has been more of a slow burn as it creeps into more and more corners of software development. Rails, by contrast, came coupled with a wonderful promoter in DHH, and brought scores of front-end talent and PHP refugees into the fold from day one. That audience seems to simply be more innately talented at vocalizing the cool things they're doing, and making sure they mention that they did it all "...with Ruby!"
So while I'd wager that the Python community is larger than the Ruby community, it certainly seems less concentrated, and less vocal about it.
To wit, did you know that Dropbox is primarily written in Python? And that the same goes for Eve Online?
As someone who uses Python (as well as C# and various others where appropriate) often outside work, this has been exactly my experience.
I only recently discovered a Python meetup in my area and have been extremely impressed with everybody there.
Python is an amazing language with a powerful module system and vast community to rapidly prototype and research almost anything. That said, I care less about its "beauty" and more about its minimalist, lack-of-magic Pythonic philosophy backing the language that lets me get things done quickly and collaborate with others with little overhead.
And this were all the factors that got me into Python when I was pondering whether to go down the Rails or Python road, when I wanted to crossover.
And I was carrying quite a torch for Ruby before. But when you realize how much broader Python is - Ruby doesn't look that good any more, no matter the hype.
But when you realize how much broader Python is - Ruby doesn't look that good any more, no matter the hype.
It's not all about "hype," of course. There are many distinctions and comparisons that can be made over which language is best for the job beyond the number of people using it or how much hype it has.
Ruby looks great at things Ruby is much better at. Python looks great at things that it's better at. For the rest, it's a wash.
But it's kinda like Porsche 911 Turbo vs Aston Martin DB9. Where AM is arguably a prettier sight, but Porsche can do all the driving of DB9 while offering a far superior dealer network.
Thanks to SciPy, NumPy, Sage, and so on, Python is extremely popular in scientific computing and academia in general, drawing hundreds each year to Enthought's Scientific Python conference.
Apple's iCal Server is written in Python with the aid of the Twisted async library, the same library used by LucasFilm for communications in its render farm, or Justin.tv's caching engine.
Google has found great success with Python: YouTube, for instance, is written in Python.
Thousands of undergraduates have their introduction to computer science each year taught in Python, even at MIT.
And let's not forget the sizable Django, Pyramid, and Plone web development communities, all of which seem to have surprisingly little overlap.
The thing is, Python's been around for a long time -- longer than Java -- and it's been useful for a similarly long time, especially in the same domains that Perl traditionally excelled at. Thus, its growth was bottom-up: Many sysadmins were eventually expected to simply know Python just as they were expected to know Shell and Perl, and thus being functionally proficient in Python wasn't really a defining characteristic.
In this way, Python's expansion has been more of a slow burn as it creeps into more and more corners of software development. Rails, by contrast, came coupled with a wonderful promoter in DHH, and brought scores of front-end talent and PHP refugees into the fold from day one. That audience seems to simply be more innately talented at vocalizing the cool things they're doing, and making sure they mention that they did it all "...with Ruby!"
So while I'd wager that the Python community is larger than the Ruby community, it certainly seems less concentrated, and less vocal about it.
To wit, did you know that Dropbox is primarily written in Python? And that the same goes for Eve Online?