During the last two weeks Stewdio has invested a great deal of time and thought into the Ruby on Rails versus Python Django debate. We began using Rails roughly a year ago and this was our first exposure to Ruby. Conversely we dabbled in Python proper before investigating the Django framework. Our assessment? Ruby on Rails is currently a better solution for agile web development.

Python itself is a beautiful language and we are committed to using it in future projects (perhaps even via NodeBox). Unfortunately Django just isn’t what we’re looking for. Rails has a stronger development community with a sharper visual sense and a predilection for code elegance. David Heinemeier Hansson describes creating Rails as a quest for beauty. Something about that struck a chord with us. It’s the same gut feeling that causes us to prefer jQuery to Prototype. And it’s a shame that Processing has become the new lingua franca because Java is just . . . Python is to Saul Bass as Java is to Michael Bay.

Finally, the Rails and Django communities are not enemies as some suggest. They are the two brightest stars; enabling us to slowly navigate away from the graveyards of PHP, ASP, and ColdFusion.