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Rails Duck
8,545 PointsRuby vs Coffeescript
What are the differences and similarities between Ruby and Coffeescript? What is an example of a complicated program written in Ruby compared to Coffeescript? Should I use Ruby or Coffeescript in my next project? If Coffeescript is the answer, is Coffeescript usable with Node.js, Express.js, Polymer.js, React.js, and other stuff? If Ruby is the answer, should I use Rails?
Thanks!!!
1 Answer

Kevin Korte
28,109 PointsThere are no similarities between Ruby and Coffeescript. Coffeescript is a language that compiles into pure javascript. Coffescript is a little more elegent and shorter to write, and once ran through the coffeescript compiler, it will output as vanilla javascript, and that is the javascript your browser uses.
Coffeescript is (kinda) to javascript as Sass is to Css.
Ruby of course, is just Ruby.
You could also use coffeescript to write node.js code, as again, it just simply compiles down to the javascript.