Should I use Python or Ruby for creating a cross-platform, compiled application?
I'm a fan of Ruby but I don't oppose Python.  ( I have 2+ years of Ruby experience and maybe 2 months of Python ).

Anyway, I need to create a service for both the Mac and Windows (and Linux, actually) that takes certain files from different directories and sends them to S3.  I **could** use .NET on Windows but I don't want to use Objective-C and I would love to keep my code-base the same on all platforms.

So after digging around a little, it looks like I should be able to compile either Ruby or Python to byte-code and distribute an interpreter to run the code. 

But, am I wrong in assuming that Python has better support for compiling code? As in `.pyc` byte code?


Also, I would prefer the end use **not** be able to ready my source code but I'm not going to the end of the world to try and stop them.

Thanks!
Should I use Python or Ruby for creating a cross-platform, compiled application?
===

I'm a fan of Ruby but I don't oppose Python.  ( I have 2+ years of Ruby experience and maybe 2 months of Python ).

Anyway, I need to create a service for both the Mac and Windows (and Linux, actually) that takes certain files from different directories and sends them to S3.  I **could** use .NET on Windows but I don't want to use Objective-C and I would love to keep my code-base the same on all platforms.

So after digging around a little, it looks like I should be able to compile either Ruby or Python to byte-code and distribute an interpreter to run the code. 

But, am I wrong in assuming that Python has better support for compiling code? As in `.pyc` byte code?


Also, I would prefer the end use **not** be able to ready my source code but I'm not going to the end of the world to try and stop them.

Thanks!