A Poignant Look Back at "why the lucky stiff's" Legacy

Talks

Sunny Ripert

A Poignant Look Back at "why the lucky stiff's" Legacy

by Sunny Ripert

In this poignant talk, Sunny Ripert revisits the legacy of Why the Lucky Stiff (Why), an influential figure in the Ruby programming community. Sunny, a seasoned Ruby developer, reflects on how Why's interactive resources, such as 'Try Ruby' and 'Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby', shaped his own learning experience. Why was known for his creative contributions to Ruby, which included whimsical projects, libraries, and engaging performances. However, his abrupt disappearance from the internet in 2009 left a deep void; he erased his online presence without explanation, leading to a mix of sadness and anger within the community.

Sunny shares key points about Why's impact:
- Educational Resources: Why introduced interactive learning through 'Try Ruby' and creative storytelling in his guide, making Ruby accessible and enjoyable.
- Innovative Contributions: He created unique libraries and projects that encouraged creativity and exploration within programming.
- Community Reactions: The Ruby community reacted with concern over his disappearance, reflecting on the personal connections formed through his work. Many grappled with questions of identity, legacy, and the nature of open-source contributions after his loss.
- Legacy: Despite his absence, Why's projects continue to influence the Ruby landscape. Various initiatives stemming from his ideas, such as Hackety Hack and Shoes, demonstrate how his innovations continue to evolve.
- Creative Freedom: Sunny emphasizes Why's belief that creation can exist outside traditional frameworks, encouraging developers to embrace exploration, anonymity in contributions, and the joy of creation, irrespective of lasting recognition.

The conclusion underscores the importance of fun and creativity in programming, echoing Why's own sentiment that the Ruby language exists for enjoyment. Ultimately, Sunny hopes that Why, whose real name is Jonathan, recognizes the lasting influence of his unique persona on the Ruby community, which remains inspired by his work and philosophy.

00:00:14.080 Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you're enjoying this conference as much as I am. We've had inspiring talks, fun talks, and now this is the poignant talk. Yes, you'll shed tears in this talk, but I'm afraid I asked the conference organizers if they could provide an onion with every ticket so you could have actual tears. I'm afraid that's not possible, so this is just my look back at Why the Lucky Stiff's legacy.

00:00:25.579 This title may not make much sense if you don't know what 'Why the Lucky Stiff' is; it's actually a person. But first, let me introduce myself. This is Sunny, that's my name—it's also an adjective, I know. As for my background, I’m a Ruby developer and have been doing Ruby for over thirteen years. When I discovered Ruby, I found a fantastic language. It was amazing, and I first tried it on a website called Try Ruby, which featured an interactive tutorial. There, you could actually type Ruby code and get instant feedback.

00:01:02.870 At that time, I thought it was crazy—I was overwhelmed that the code could run right there, and I was curious about the security implications behind it all. I was completely mind-blown by both learning Ruby and the capabilities of this website. I felt like I was entering a new age in my programming career. Another invaluable resource I leaned on was a guide called Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby; it’s a free online PDF packed with cartoons. These cartoons are quite meta; they even interact with you. Alongside the cartoons, there are stories about various things unrelated to Ruby, like pets, hams, and elves, along with actual Ruby code.

00:01:46.970 So, through that guide, I was learning real Ruby while also having fun. It was quirky and weird, and that’s how I learned Ruby. The book itself was a strange book. After a few basic examples, I dove into more advanced topics, like Ruby metaprogramming, which was also mind-blowing. Both Try Ruby and the guide were created by this enigmatic person known as Why the Lucky Stiff, or Why for short.

00:02:14.100 Here’s a picture of Why from a 2006 RailsConf, where he talked about the sandbox that powers Try Ruby. But Why didn’t stop at those two important projects; he developed many more, like a gem to generate HTML from Ruby in some unique ways, as well as text parsers for Textile. He also created a programming environment for kids, a micro web framework, and less than four kilobytes of HTML parsing tools, along with other languages that were inspired by Ruby.

00:02:43.970 He engaged with countless whimsical projects, each offering a glimpse into his creativity. Once you start to pull on the thread of all that Why did, you find a wealth of powerful libraries that many Rubyists were using. He was a key figure in the community at the time, known for his engaging onstage performances, sometimes even with a band. If you were familiar with the Ruby community, you probably knew about Why. But on August 19, 2009, he mysteriously disappeared.

00:03:16.489 What happened was devastating: he committed internet suicide, which resulted in his website, his Twitter account, his blogs, and all his projects, including his GitHub open-source contributions, being taken down in one day with no explanation. I can see the tears starting to form in your eyes—that's very good.

00:03:42.229 The first question we all asked was, 'Is he okay?' We all loved the character he portrayed—Why. Ultimately, we learned that he was only known by his nickname; nobody knew his true identity. Although he had publicly appeared in the past, he took great lengths to keep his personal life private, wanting to keep his persona and real self separate.

00:04:02.100 A few months before his disappearance, he was outed by a small blog that attempted to uncover his identity by tracking his IP address and linking it to personal details about his life. This incident may have contributed to his decision to disappear, but we knew from his fans, colleagues, and employers that he was okay—he just did not want to be contacted anymore.

00:04:32.910 Of course, this led to the next question: why? Why would he choose to do that? We felt shock at losing a dear friend, an important figure in the community. While we were sad, some were also angry, wondering how he could tear down everything he had built. After all, those open-source projects served as critical dependencies in many applications; it felt very personal.

00:05:01.500 Four years later, out of nowhere, a final burst of a project emerged from Why. This was a printout by Steve Platt, who took the few pages of printed instructions that appeared on Why’s website. It’s a strange project, much in line with Why’s artistic style, filled with technical details. It’s an interesting read, especially for those familiar with Why, as it touches on themes of being anonymous and erasing one’s identity, along with the pains of programming.

00:05:25.700 And that brings us to the focal point of the talk. It's been ten years since he disappeared. Let’s get a sense of how many people remember Why. Can I get a show of hands of who knows about him before I proceed? Okay, I’d estimate around half the room. When I mentioned ‘Why’ around my colleagues, I was amazed to learn that many didn’t know him. How could he have disappeared from people’s minds when he meant so much to me when I was learning programming?

00:05:50.329 When Why disappeared, all his projects remained open-source—people still had access to the code and history. This allowed others to start piecing things back together and re-uploading projects on GitHub and other platforms, sharing the maintenance responsibilities of these libraries. This was quite a significant task, given the volume of libraries he created and their varying visibility.

00:06:20.290 Some projects have been actively maintained, like Hackety Hack, which is a programming environment for kids and has been cultivated well over the years. A separate example is Shoes, a very simple DSL for creating UI applications across Windows, Mac, and Linux. Today, the code of Shoes is vastly different from what it was a decade ago; although the original ideas inspired the creation of its current iteration.

00:06:48.849 While there may not seem to be a lot left from Why, many projects inspired by his work continue to thrive. For instance, here’s an example of a parser he developed; it showcased innovative ways to manipulate HTML, used Ruby concepts that had not been applied before. His ideas have even influenced popular libraries such as Sinatra and others within the Ruby community.

00:07:35.090 Ultimately, Why was an explorer in the sense that he pushed the boundaries of what was possible. He encouraged creativity and experimentation, trying out different techniques and forging new paths. However, his goal was not to create projects meant to last—each project was unique in style, reflecting his constant search for novelty.

00:08:09.480 Another legacy from Why is individuals like myself who learned from him. I distinctly remember learning about classes and self in Ruby, and through his work, I realized programming didn’t have to be boring—it could be fun, easy, and creative.

00:08:30.810 In the Ruby community, there’s a saying that goes: Mats is nice, and so are we. I’ve reinterpreted it, and I'd like to propose an additional acronym we could adopt to characterize ourselves in this community: 'WGI', which stands for 'We Won't Kill You'. I'll have to refine this concept, but essentially I mean that Y has influenced my belief that Ruby is special.

00:09:08.150 There’s no other programming language that has a persona as quirky as Why. Ruby's uniqueness reflects the kinds of ideas and inspirations Why left behind. In a way, Ruby was an outlier in programming when I was learning.

00:09:36.440 In one of Why’s tweets, he said, 'When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than your ability; your tastes only narrow and exclude people, so create!' This lesson resonated deeply with me: one should explore creatively, not strictly adhering to genres or trends. While our creative processes might not mirror his, each of us certainly has the potential to be inventive in our own ways. There are boundaries we haven't yet pushed, and there are uncharted pathways we can take.

00:10:21.350 Why also taught me that what you create doesn't have to last forever. It's perfectly fine to move on from projects if necessary. In open-source, you aren't obligated to continue maintaining every piece of software you release. Others can do their own thing with that open-source software, which exemplifies the beauty of this community.

00:11:03.390 Also, you don't have to be famous or recognized for your contributions if you don’t want that. It’s okay to remain anonymous: that’s how he chose to keep his creative process separate from his personal identity. Furthermore, your future projects may not need to relate to your day job—they can take on unique creative inspirations!

00:11:40.530 Most importantly, I encourage you to have fun in your creative endeavors. In his keynote, Mats said that Ruby was created just for fun. If we stop prioritizing enjoyment, it could hinder our inspiration to create something novel. I urge everyone to take time to enjoy what they do and explore new aspects of Ruby, leveraging its beauty in our ways.

00:12:08.420 To conclude, I hope wherever Why is—presumably okay—he's aware of the influence he had on the community. His real identity is Jonathan, but his legacy through that mad scientist persona plays a significant role in what makes Ruby the special language that it is.

00:12:49.490 Thank you! I won’t be taking any questions, but please come speak to me afterward. I’ll be around this evening, and I'd love to hear your stories about your experiences or any topics of interest. Thank you once again!

Paris.rb Conf 2020