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Fault tolerance in Ruby is the central theme discussed by Hubert Łępicki during his presentation at wroc_love.rb 2017. The speaker emphasizes the importance of designing systems that can survive software failures while minimizing the impact on users and businesses. The discussion covers multiple aspects related to fault tolerance, scalability, and concurrency, which are often interconnected. Key points include:

- **Definition of Fault Tolerance**: Fault tolerance is described as the ability to detect and recover from software failures, rather than simply operating correctly according to specifications.  
- **Challenges in Implementing Fault Tolerance**: Hubert discusses the complexities and challenges involved in making a system fault-tolerant, highlighting that it remains one of the hardest challenges in computer science.  
- **Historical Context**: The debate between Linus Torvalds and Andrew Tanenbaum in 1992 is referenced to illustrate differing philosophies on system design, particularly regarding microkernels versus monolithic kernels in terms of fault tolerance.  
- **Defensive Programming Techniques in Ruby**: The speaker emphasizes the use of exception handling, logging, and implementing timeouts to manage failures effectively. Techniques such as wrapping potentially failing operations in exception handling blocks and using libraries for circuit breaker patterns are recommended.  
- **Isolation Strategies**: The concept of dividing systems into smaller services (bulkheads) is discussed as a means to prevent issues from cascading across the application.  
- **Examples of Real-World Complexity**: Hubert shares an experience with 'ghost failures' encountered while using RabbitMQ, highlighting the importance of monitoring and maintaining systems.  
- **Advancements in Concurrency**: The introduction of libraries like Celluloid and Concurrent Ruby, which draw from Erlang’s actor model, is mentioned as a way to achieve better fault tolerance and concurrency in Ruby applications.  
- **Looking Forward**: Hubert concludes with the anticipation surrounding Ruby 3.0, which is expected to bring enhancements that improve fault tolerance through concurrency.

The key takeaway from this presentation is the critical balance between implementing fault tolerance mechanisms and maintaining manageable complexity in software systems. Developers are encouraged to focus on delivering business value while incrementing fault tolerance capabilities judiciously. Hubert's presentation advocates for a thoughtful approach to designing resilient Ruby applications.

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