The most interesting part IMO is how it's so similar to Python along many categories, but also so different.
Biggest example is how Ruby just loves Blocks. They're all over the place in the std lib, tons of syntax sugar for them, and countless DSLs built around them. All the standard functional stuff is there in the std lib and has been from very early on, so doing functional-style stuff is really smooth and reads well. In Python, you can technically do most of the same stuff, but it all seems a lot more awkward to write and to read (though maybe just my opinion from doing Ruby first). Python has lambdas, but it doesn't seem to like them much for more than trivial things. But instead functions are first-class everywhere.
The most interesting part IMO is how it's so similar to Python along many categories, but also so different.
Biggest example is how Ruby just loves Blocks. They're all over the place in the std lib, tons of syntax sugar for them, and countless DSLs built around them. All the standard functional stuff is there in the std lib and has been from very early on, so doing functional-style stuff is really smooth and reads well. In Python, you can technically do most of the same stuff, but it all seems a lot more awkward to write and to read (though maybe just my opinion from doing Ruby first). Python has lambdas, but it doesn't seem to like them much for more than trivial things. But instead functions are first-class everywhere.