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Arguments for Ruby agains PHP
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Language itself
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PHP:

* Static method inheritance is broken
* Inconsistent
    * empty
    * isset
    * is_array
* Goto?!
* Makes it too easy to write testless, non-MVC, … code

Ruby:

* Much more compact
* Blocks, metaprogramming, DSLs
* Test frameworks, mocking/stubbing libraries

Speed
-----

Ruby is a bit slower than PHP, but not significantly so. Speed is improving with different Ruby interpreters (1.9.x, JRuby) so should not be an issue.

Personal experience
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I am an experienced PHP programmer and therefore I know the language quite well. I have more experience with Ruby than experience with PHP, so I am a better Ruby programmer than a PHP programmer.

Bindings
--------

PHP:

* C bindings (eww)
* SWIG (meh)

Ruby:

* C bindings (eww but less than php)
* Java bindings (whee)
* FFI (whee)
* SWIG (meh)

Libraries/packages/gems
-----------------------

PHP:  544+231 all-time
Ruby: 8,506 on RubyForce, 6,871 on gemcutter

Bindings for FANN:   in Ruby, outdated in PHP
Bindings for LIBSVM: in Ruby, not available in PHP
K-D tree lbirary:    in Ruby, not available in PHP

The quality of external libraries for Ruby is often much more high-quality than those for PHP.

Popularity
----------

Ruby is a big programming language used by big companies as well. Apple, Alcatel-Lucent, Sun, … use Ruby.

As part of dissertation
-----------------------

A master dissertation consists partially of research, partially of implementation of a project that combines this research into a usable whole. Implementation without research is impossible, though; spending more time on research is never a bad thing.

The main reason for using Ruby for this dissertation is development speed. Ruby is a good choice as far as development speed is considered, for the following reasons:

* Personal experience with Ruby
* Ruby is more terse than PHP and allows better abstractions
* Availability of useful libraries not available in PHP

References
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http://www.bitcetera.com/en/techblog/2009/04/07/10-reasons-why-php-is-still-better-than-ruby--/

http://books.google.com/books?id=SvTuCXEKBvkC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=convincing+boss+use+ruby&source=bl&ots=SPgHll2ce-&sig=h7g75eXej0MFvzkGTNzeWiGJ9-0&hl=en&ei=7_LnSpOGId-gjAeNl7SnCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=convincing%20boss%20use%20ruby&f=false

From Java To Ruby
(should be applicabl to PHP as well, I guess)