I explored this topic a while ago on my blog [0]
In essence, I don't think it has anything to do with elegance, syntax, or "easiness". It's more about timing + origin + corporate adoption:
* Python was created in Europe, Ruby was created in Japan - when Ruby gained more recognition in English-speaking world (~2004), Python has already been present and used worldwide for a decade
* Ruby was created as a personal, hobby project; Python was created while Guido worked in research institutions, and it helped Python gain recognition in academia environment
* Guido joined Google in 2005, boosting the adoption of Python; Ruby has never gained such a large corporate backing
Eventually I believe it was the combination of the latter 2 that pushed Python to top spot in popularity - scientists all over the world were familiar with Python, and with the rise of Data Science/ML (with Google being one of the main forces behind it), it became the most obvious choice for the new tools.
[0] https://www.notonlycode.org/why-python-has-won/
In essence, I don't think it has anything to do with elegance, syntax, or "easiness". It's more about timing + origin + corporate adoption:
* Python was created in Europe, Ruby was created in Japan - when Ruby gained more recognition in English-speaking world (~2004), Python has already been present and used worldwide for a decade
* Ruby was created as a personal, hobby project; Python was created while Guido worked in research institutions, and it helped Python gain recognition in academia environment
* Guido joined Google in 2005, boosting the adoption of Python; Ruby has never gained such a large corporate backing
Eventually I believe it was the combination of the latter 2 that pushed Python to top spot in popularity - scientists all over the world were familiar with Python, and with the rise of Data Science/ML (with Google being one of the main forces behind it), it became the most obvious choice for the new tools.
[0] https://www.notonlycode.org/why-python-has-won/