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My first talk outside of Japan was in 2001 at the Linux Expo in Paris.
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That was my first talk in English, and back then I couldn't speak English very well.
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Actually, I'm still not very fluent, but it was much worse back then.
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Over time, I visited Paris several times for conferences and events.
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Back then, we didn't have Rails, so Ruby was basically an unknown scripting language.
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It was a newborn scripting language from the Far East.
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Paris is a very important place in the history of Ruby, especially internationally.
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I was at the first RubyConf in Tampa, Florida, that same year.
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At that time, Ruby was not well-known.
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It eventually grew into a popular programming language, thanks to Rails.
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Ruby is currently the 15th most popular language in the TIOBE index.
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It's even higher than several popular languages like Haskell and Rust.
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Ruby also holds a prominent position in the RedMonk index.
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But Ruby is not just about Rails.
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Ruby can be used as a scripting language and a systems programming language.
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DevOps professionals also use Ruby with tools like Chef and Puppet.
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Some developers even use Ruby for mobile applications using technologies like RubyMotion.
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Additionally, Ruby is being explored in scientific fields and machine learning.
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While languages like Python and R dominate in these areas, Ruby is still applicable.
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We have alternatives like mruby for embedding Ruby in small devices.
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Ruby can run in tiny computers with as little as 32 kilobytes of memory.
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As a language, Ruby has become quite popular.
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If you create open-source software, you might receive 50 or 100 stars on GitHub.
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To dominate the world, we have to make software popular.
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There are lessons we can learn from the history of the Ruby language.
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The first important factor in our success is motivation.
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I created Ruby just for fun.
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In the early 90s, Japan was experiencing a significant economic depression.
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I worked as a programmer on internal tools for software developers.
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My project got canceled, and I was assigned to maintain existing tools.
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Other employees were assigned to money-making projects.
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I was effectively unmanaged and free to explore programming.
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I liked programming and was interested in programming languages.
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With the time I had, I started working on Ruby.
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Creating a programming language offers a unique sense of freedom.
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Not many get the opportunity to create a language.
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For most, languages are tools to learn and use.
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For me, a language is something to create.
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Programming languages should guide other programmers towards better productivity.
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All Ruby users are influenced by the language designer.
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For me, the motivation to create Ruby was rooted in love for programming.
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Consider the motivation behind your software project.
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Software projects aren't achieved in a day or a week but take years.
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For software to be successful, it requires long-lasting motivation.
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The second factor for success is defining the target audience.
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I created Ruby for myself—I am the target audience.
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I wanted to program in a better programming language.
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So, I created Ruby to satisfy my own programming needs.
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I made it open-source for backup, not expecting others to use it.
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But surprisingly, people liked it.
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The key takeaway here is to have a clear target audience.
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Different people prefer different programming languages.
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There are enough people like me who love Ruby.
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Defining target audiences for your software is crucial.
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It should be concrete, not vague.
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The third factor for success is community.
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Many years ago, when I worked as a professional programmer, there was no community.
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Open-source software now often thrives on community.
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Today, software development is driven by the community.
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GitHub has changed how we develop software.
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You no longer need to be part of a company to contribute.
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If you have an idea to improve a software, you can create a proposal or pull request.
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The improvement can be driven by the community.
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In Ruby, the philosophy is to include everyone who is willing to participate.
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Inclusivity is the hallmark of community-driven development.
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Imperfection allows for community involvement.
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In the early days of Ruby, there were many bugs.
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I remember the early communication on the Ruby mailing list.
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The first email congratulated me on the release of Ruby.
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Then, I received reports of bugs—one message mentioned it didn't compile!
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The simplicity of Ruby encouraged people to engage.
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Today, we have a lot of complexity in software development.
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Many open-source projects fail due to their complexity.
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The simplicity of Ruby made it accessible.
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Netscape failed because their software was too complex and difficult to contribute to.
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Ruby's early success came because it was significantly simpler.
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Imperfect software invites participation.
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Another important factor is community policy or philosophy.
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Ruby emphasizes the joy of programming, focusing on human needs.
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Clear goals help guide community involvement.
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For your project, create a community and establish guiding principles.
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For example, Ruby 3 has clear goals for better performance and concurrency.
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Establishing a clear vision is vital for the success of any project.
00:11:06
I believe software design should primarily be guided by few people, if possible.
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The leader must present a vision that goes beyond expectations.
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For example, when I released Ruby, some people complained.
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They thought they already had suitable scripting languages.
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But time proved Ruby’s worth as a successful language.
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Similarly, when Twitter started, people were skeptical of its format.
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Yet Twitter has become one of the most popular social platforms.
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It's essential for designers to present their visions consistently.
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The success of software projects hinges on motivation, target audience, and community.
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Software success requires long-term commitment.
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You need a clear vision and well-defined target audiences.
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The community plays a crucial role in this regard.
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In recent years, software development has radically evolved.
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Focus on improvement and adapt to social development.
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As your software grows, understanding community involvement is key.
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In Ruby's early stages, we concentrated on the language itself.
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In later stages, we focused on community building.
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We needed to establish RubyGems for packages and libraries.
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Providing resources for the community is more important than ever.
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Organizing communities around shared values is crucial.
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It can be challenging to define why you love Ruby.
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We all share a common vision of the goodness in Ruby.
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This shared vision should be concretized to guide development.
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Establishing community guidelines and principles leads to growth.
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In Ruby 3, we aim for better performance and ease of development.
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Having a unifying vision can make significant contributions towards success.
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In summary, motivation, target audience, and community are key factors.
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Stay committed to improvement and community-driven development.
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This is how we can dominate the world with technology.
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It is possible to create a bright future.
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So let’s work together to continue innovating.
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We will release Ruby 3 in December 2020, no matter what.
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Ruby will remain compatible, learning from past experiences.
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In the past, Python faced compatibility challenges with version changes.
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We want to avoid similar issues with Ruby.
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Our goal is to keep the community strong while improving the language.
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We aim to integrate new features while maintaining backward compatibility.
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This balance is crucial for the success of Ruby.
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Ruby 3 will bring innovative features like a JIT compiler.
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We’re working hard to improve the experience of using Ruby.
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The next steps include enhancing tools and libraries.
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We want to keep improving Ruby for the community.
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We believe in the importance of good documentation.
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Contributions to documentation and references are welcome.
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Ruby is a welcoming community for new contributors.
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If you are interested, look into the Ruby development on GitHub.
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You don’t need to be an expert; everyone can contribute.
00:17:11
Thank you for your time today.
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Do you have any questions?
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We can take questions now.
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Just raise your hand, and a mic will come to you.
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Please repeat your question once you have the mic.
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User: Three years ago, you talked about Ruby 3 being released.
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Will it truly be three times faster compared to version 1.9?
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Matz: Yes, for some benchmarks.
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We’ve improved memory management and introduced a JIT compiler.
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Some CPU-bound benchmarks show over three times faster performance.
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For Rails applications, the improvement is less clear.
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We are working on more accurate benchmark comparisons.
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User: You mentioned Ruby was built with you as the target audience.
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Have there been features added under community pressure that you didn't like?
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Matz: Early on, I borrowed too many ideas from Perl.
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I regret some of the naming conventions like dollar variables.
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We are working to fix some of those early decisions.
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User: What is your opinion on alternative Ruby implementations?
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Matz: I appreciate alternative implementations like JRuby.
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JRuby offers performance improvements due to the JVM.
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Other implementations, like Opal, provide unique capabilities.
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User: What are your thoughts on the Crystal language?
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Matz: Crystal is a statically typed language inspired by Ruby.
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While it has its own path, there are ideas worth exploring.
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I hope it develops a bigger community.
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User: What do you think about type-checking tools?
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Matz: We are collaborating with various type-checking projects.
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We aim for better integration and broader functionality.
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User: Ruby is like your child, but how has it evolved over the years?
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Matz: My vision has remained stable.
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Ruby has absorbed influences from functional programming languages.
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The focus on web applications was initially outside my scope.
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The core vision of Ruby remains intact.
00:21:01
User: Will Ruby be rewritten in Rust?
00:21:07
Matz: I'm a C expert and prefer to stick with it.
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But I encourage alternative implementations in Rust.
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Artichoke is an example of Ruby written in Rust.
00:21:27
Thank you for your questions.
