Python was released earlier than Ruby (1991 vs 1993/1995), and Matz was familiar with it. But Ruby is clearly an attempt at an object-oriented Perl rather than a Python mimic:
> I knew Python then. But I didn't like it, because I didn't think it was a true object-oriented language---OO features appeared to be add-on to the language. As a language manic and OO fan for 15 years, I really wanted a genuine object-oriented, easy-to-use scripting language. I looked for, but couldn't find one.
Except that the walrus operator “:=” is an assignment expression, whereas in Pascal it is an assignment statement, like “=” in many languages. In Pascal, the boolean comparison operator is “=” instead of “==” (in the same many languages).
And there is C where the assignment expression is just “=”, there is no assignment statement, and many forgotten double equals led to bugs …