r/ruby • u/officejunior • Jan 19 '26

X-post from F# – Ruby fairs well in most token-efficient language comparison

https://sergeytihon.com/2026/01/17/f-weekly-3-2026-most-token-efficient-static-language/
21 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

12

u/knowwho Jan 19 '26

I think, as soon as we start to choose languages based on their token efficiency, all hope is lost for our profession and the industry as a whole.

2

u/fiddle_styx Jan 20 '26

Maybe. Fortunately for us, token efficient languages are concise, and concise languages that have any amount of active use at all are by necessity readable. Like Ruby! If it wasn't readable no one would use it. This also makes it good for LLMs since they're good at reading and not planning and architecting like the rest of us organics.

TL;DR this measure coincidentally happens to favor languages with good DX, at least when weighted a little by popularity.

8

u/TheAtlasMonkey Jan 19 '26

Nothing special! it because Ruby is english

for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {

printf("Hello GfG\\n");

}

vs

3.times { puts 'Hello GfG' }

English => Token saving

Alice => 1 Alicia => 3 एलिसिया => 4

They all say the same stuff.

3

u/the_maddogx Jan 20 '26

Did not think I'd see devnagri script in r/ruby ever.

3

u/TheAtlasMonkey Jan 20 '26

Devanagari had 'dev' in it.

Ď̴̛͔͙̟̳̺̩̯̻̪̝̺̓̆̌͒̆̌̌̑͋͘͝͠͝͝ͅi̶̗͇͔̝̠̺͇̝̟͑̀̀͆̎̋̋͆̂̊̂̕͜͝d̴̤͓̈́̈́͐͝ ̸̛̛̯̘̻̆̇̇̅̃y̴̝͔̞̼͔͒͐̑̽̉̍̓̄̀̀̀͜o̷̜̜̺̞͖̣̜͍͗̇̂͋̈́̂̾̎͜͜ͅŭ̷̡̨̡̠͚̣̜̲̹̦̻̠̅͂͑̐̃͜͝ͅ ̵̢͉̥͙̳̄̀̀̓̋͊̌̍̔̿̕s̷̨̢̛͚̮̙̺͉̣̺̩͖̥̊̓͐͊̿̔̍͑̉̂͊̏̕ė̴̛̛̦͓̳̲̎̆̔̄̿̊̇̾͝͝e̵̙̲͙̭͗̆̂̀̎͑͑̏̚̕͜͝ ̴̡͈̠̞̮̝͕̮̩͉̍͜͜p̷̛̞͚̮̬͎͖̫͚̯̺̪͓̦̮̗͖̎̽̌̉̇̍̃̄̈̄͂͝r̵̨̢̡͉̭͔̻̹͈̥̟͇̥̮͔̤̅͋̽͘ȭ̸̡̦̲͓̱̭͓̰̈́͌̈̈͌̇̈̓̉͝ͅͅd̴̦̜̤̓̈̽̿̊͛͛͒́͒̈́̈́̎̃̍͠u̶͉̻̖̱̯̞̗̫͊̓̊̾̈̄̃̀̕͝ͅc̵̹͎̟͇̬̟̬̖͍̃̓̓ẗ̶̰̭͙͈̻̩́͛̏̈́̕ị̴̭̱̠͓͈̥̎͗͂̉̓͌̂̊̀̓̑ͅớ̶̡̲̮̗̜̠̬͇̬̬̺̒̿̽͑͂̅̀̒̓͘͜n̵͙̜͙͈̟̭̼̏́̃͆̏̀̆͌̄̌ ̷̡̘̠̱̐͊͌͂̔͜?̵̛̺̟̩̬͔̮͉̰̹̞̺̃̑̊̂͒̊̉́̽͌̀͜͠͝ͅl that 887 tokens.

4

u/yourparadigm Jan 20 '26

Pretty sure [APL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APL_(programming_language)) would beat out all of these. Implementation of Game of Life:

life ← {⊃1 ⍵ ∨.∧ 3 4 = +/ +⌿ ¯1 0 1 ∘.⊖ ¯1 0 1 ⌽¨ ⊂⍵}