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Ruby vs. JavaScript: What’s the Difference, and Which Is Better?

If you're a web developer or someone interested in coding, you've likely heard about Ruby and JavaScript and probably come across the Ruby vs. JavaScript hot topic. Both programming languages have arguably taken the web development world by storm in recent years, but which one should you choose? With Ruby's ease of use and JavaScript's versatility, it's pretty hard to say.

That’s why we’ve decided to pit Ruby against JavaScript to see what exactly sets them apart as well as the pros and cons of both. By the end of this 2600-word article, you'll know the ins and outs of both languages and be able to make an educated choice about which one is right for you.

A Brief History of Ruby and JavaScript

Before we compare Ruby and JavaScript, let‘s first take a quick look at the origins of both languages.

Ruby

Ruby was created in 1995 by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto in Japan. Matsumoto designed Ruby as an object-oriented scripting language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. Some key influences behind Ruby included Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp.

When he first released Ruby to the public in 1996, it didn‘t gain much attention at first. However, over time Ruby started attracting a growing community of loyal fans. An important milestone was the release of the Ruby on Rails web framework in 2004, which sparked immense interest in the language.

JavaScript

JavaScript was created in 1995 by Brendan Eich while he was an engineer at Netscape Communications. The initial purpose was to add dynamic and interactive elements to web pages inside Netscape Navigator.

The language was first named LiveScript, but Java was very popular at the time, so Netscape changed the name to JavaScript to capitalize on Java‘s success, even though JavaScript is quite different from Java.

JavaScript gained more functionality when the Netscape navigator added support for the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) standard for creating dynamic web pages. Soon after, Microsoft released JScript – their own implementation of JavaScript – for Internet Explorer. The language continued gaining traction and officially became known as ECMAScript with the release of ES1 in 1997.

Main Use Cases and Applications

Ruby and JavaScript target different primary use cases:

Ruby

Ruby is a general-purpose, interpreted scripting language well-suited for rapid development of server-side web applications. Some primary uses of Ruby include:

  • Building back end components of web apps using popular frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Sinatra
  • Prototyping ideas and products quickly with minimal code
  • Scripting and automating tasks
  • Data analysis and visualization
  • Machine learning model development

Thanks to Ruby‘s expressive syntax that reads like natural language, developers can write functionality with less code compared to other languages. This makes Ruby a great choice for agile, iterative web development.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a multi-paradigm scripting language that runs in browsers and other JavaScript engines. Below are some of the main uses of JavaScript:

  • Adding interactive user interfaces to web pages and enhancing overall user experience
  • Building single page applications using frameworks like React, Angular and Vue
  • Developing mobile apps with cross-platform frameworks like React Native
  • Server-side development with Node.js
  • Game development
  • IoT applications

JavaScript powers the client-side logic and real-time updates users see in modern dynamic web apps. It brings pages to life through features like animations, click interactions, and data streaming.

Key Technical Differences

Now that we‘ve provided some background, let‘s dive deeper into some of the key technical differences between Ruby and JavaScript.

Type System

Ruby and JavaScript differ quite a bit in their type systems.

Ruby is a dynamically typed language, meaning variables have no predefined type. The Ruby interpreter assigns each variable a type based on the value assigned at runtime. So you don‘t need to manually specify types in your code.

# No type declarations 

name = "Sarah" # String type
age = 30 # Integer type

JavaScript, on the other hand, employs a loose type system with partially typed variables. While you don‘t need to declare types upfront, once you assign a type to a variable, you can only change it using special methods.

// No type declarations

let name = "Sarah" // String 
let age = 30 // Number

// Can reassign 
name = 28 // Changes type to number

This looser type system allows more flexibility but can also lead to hard-to-catch bugs if developers aren‘t careful about data types.

Programming Paradigms

When it comes to programming paradigms:

  • Ruby is a pure object-oriented programming (OOP) language – everything in Ruby is treated as an object.

  • JavaScript supports multiple paradigms including OOP, imperative, and functional programming.

Ruby‘s strict OOP approach promotes modular code that‘s easier to reuse and maintain. But JavaScript‘s flexibility allows developers to write code using the approach they prefer, which helps integrate well with other languages.

Syntax Complexity

Ruby syntax is designed for simplicity and readability. With its natural language flow, Ruby code almost reads like plain English. This makes Ruby one of the easiest languages for beginners to learn.

JavaScript‘s syntax is a bit more complex by comparison. Its strict formatting rules take some practice getting used to. But the syntax is more similar to other C-based languages, making it relatively easy to pick up for those with prior coding experience.

Platform Support

One major difference is that Ruby code runs on Ruby‘s own VM (virtual machine), so you need to install Ruby environment first before executing any Ruby code. This allows Ruby to run on virtually any platform and OS that supports the language.

Meanwhile, the JavaScript engine is embedded into all major web browsers, so it executes code directly inside the browser. This ties JS more closely to web development, although with Node.js it can also run JavaScript on the server.

Performance & Speed

In terms of performance, JavaScript leverages a just-in-time (JIT) compiler for faster code execution speed over Ruby. Some benchmarks show JS runs code up to 20 times faster than Ruby.

That said, Ruby code optimizations introduced in Ruby 3.0 have started closing this performance gap. And for many use cases, Ruby‘s speed is more than sufficient. JavaScript holds an edge mainly for data and computationally intensive web apps.

Database Support

When it comes to databases, Ruby has the upper hand over JavaScript.

The Ruby on Rails ORM provides excellent built-in integration with SQL databases like MySQL, Postgres, and SQLite. There’s also seamless connectivity for NoSQL databases like MongoDB.

Meanwhile, developers often use third-party libraries like Mongoose and Sequelize to integrate JavaScript apps with databases. So JavaScript involves more setup work, but connectors do exist for most data stores.

Frameworks, Tools and Libraries

Both Ruby and JavaScript support tons of open-source frameworks, tools and libraries that extend what developers can achieve.

Ruby

Some of the most popular frameworks and tools for Ruby development include:

  • Ruby on Rails – The most widely used Ruby framework for full-stack web development
  • Sinatra – Lightweight framework great for APIs and microservices
  • Hanami – An alternative full-stack framework to Rails
  • RSpec – Testing framework for TDD and BDD

Useful Ruby libraries cover functionality like data analysis, machine learning, image processing, microservices, API clients, and tons more. RubyGems hosts the largest collection of open-source Ruby libraries with over 200,000 packages.

JavaScript

Below are some of the most used JavaScript frameworks, libraries and tools:

  • React – Frontend framework for building interactive UIs
  • Vue.js – Progressive framework for UIs and SPAs
  • Node.js – Runs JavaScript on the server for backend duties
  • Express – Fast and flexible web app framework for Node.js
  • Jest – JavaScript testing framework from Facebook

The npm package repository contains over 1.5 million JavaScript libraries and modules covering every imaginable functionality including UI components, authentication, real-time capabilities, visualization, automation, and more.

Notable Companies Using Ruby and JavaScript

Many big tech companies leverage Ruby, JavaScript or both to power their products and services:

Prominent Sites Built with Ruby on Rails

  • Twitter (originally)
  • Airbnb
  • GitHub
  • Shopify
  • Coinbase
  • Basecamp

Well-Known Sites Built with JavaScript (React Js)

  • Facebook
  • Uber
  • Netflix
  • PayPal
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

As you can see, companies of all sizes leverage Ruby and JavaScript to create fast, dynamic web applications.

Ruby vs. JavaScript: Pros and Cons

Now that we‘ve seen what sets Ruby and JavaScript apart at a technical level. Let‘s summarize some of the main advantages and potential drawbacks of each language.

Ruby Pros

  • Clean, easy-to-read syntax great for beginners
  • Expressive, English-like code requiring less lines of code
  • Pure OOP approach promotes modular, reusable code
  • Built-in support for unit testing and TDD
  • Fun and highly productive to work with

Ruby Cons

  • Slower execution speed than compiled languages
  • Startup time can be lengthy for large Ruby apps
  • Not as widely used as mainstream languages like JavaScript or Python
  • Not ideal for computationally intensive analytics/machine learning tasks

JavaScript Pros

  • Lightning-fast performance with efficient JIT compilation
  • Runs natively in all web browsers
  • Massive ecosystem of frameworks and 3rd party modules
  • Isomorphic code across backend, frontend, mobile apps
  • Increasingly popular and universal language

JavaScript Cons

  • Weak type system can cause bugs
  • Syntax has a steeper initial learning curve
  • Asynchronous coding model creates complexity
  • Easy to write disorganized “spaghetti” code without discipline

As with most programming languages, both Ruby and JavaScript come with tradeoffs. Your project requirements and team skills ultimately determine which language delivers the best results.

Ruby vs JavaScript: Which Should You Learn and Use?

So should you spend time mastering Ruby or JavaScript? There‘s no universally correct choice – it depends on your specific goals and needs.

Here is a quick breakdown of which language we recommend in different scenarios:

For total beginners new to coding: Ruby

Ruby gently eases newcomers into programming concepts with its clean syntax, making it less intimidating.

For front end web development: JavaScript

JavaScript powers all browser-based interactivity so it‘s mandatory for front end developers.

For back end web services: Ruby

Ruby on Rails lets teams build REST APIs fast, with less code than libraries like ExpressJS.

For dev ops and tooling: Ruby

Ruby excels at scripting and task automation. That’s why over 50% of GitHub projects are built using Ruby.

For mobile app development: Tie

Ruby creates fully native iOS apps. React Native allows you to build mobile apps with just JavaScript. Both solid options.

As this quick comparison shows, Ruby offers a gentle starting point particularly for newer developers. But even experienced teams leverage Ruby for its coding efficiencies.

Meanwhile, JavaScript skills grant you the ability to code the front end for web and mobile apps, opening more career opportunities. Mastering both languages ultimately makes you more well-rounded and versatile.

The Final Verdict: Ruby vs JavaScript

So what’s the final verdict in the great Ruby vs JavaScript matchup?

Well in reality – there is no outright winner. Each language has its own strengths and slight weaknesses too.

Ruby shines when it comes to:

  • Quick, agile web application development
  • APIs/microservices development
  • Code readability and expressiveness
  • Scripting, automation and devops tasks

JavaScript dominates in areas like:

  • Front end web development
  • Mobile app development
  • Real-time application performance
  • Cross-platform development

As you can see, Ruby and JavaScript can complement each other quite well. In fact, many web teams use them side-by-side building sites – Ruby on the back end and JavaScript powering the front. This combo gives you the coding convenience and rapid development of Ruby with the dynamic UI abilities of JavaScript.

So while the two languages will continue battling for supremacy as they have for decades, the truth is most projects and skillsets benefit from a knowledge of both Ruby and JavaScript. Hopefully this comprehensive comparison provides some useful insights to help choose which language is best for your needs.

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