Oh yes, Ruby is great. Indeed, Ruby is a good example of “succint” versus “terse”

“lesscode” isn’t so much a literal concept as it is an overall feeling you have when developing applications using simple tools and agile/dynamic languages. It’s less everything, really; less framework, less complexity, fewer abstract concepts, etc. It’s hard to put a finger on one specific aspect of the system, and we’re still figuring out what works best. But there are many with strong J2EE and other “enterprise” backgrounds who, upon developing a front to back application using dynamic languages such as Ruby, Python, or even PHP, realize that there’s something special there. That many of our assumptions about what was required to build applications were perhaps all wrong.

We’re finding that not only can we build applications faster and with fewer lines of code but that we feel better about managing and maintaining them.

Also, if you don’t like the “mandated layout” of Python, then check out Ruby. Both Python and Ruby off many of the same benefits, yet still have their distinct philosophical differences.

Similarly, Python relieves one of having to type the closing block ‘end’, but at the cost of a mandated code layout. While this is peachy keen for many, I find that waht you gain is far less than the epressive fredom lost.