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Hello everyone! Oh hello! AHA, this is Matz. It’s great to see you!
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I would like to ask you some questions, first.
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Thank you! Welcome to RubyConf.
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These are the first seekers.
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No, really, I'm updated.
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Okay, I'll tell you. We're here to recount this as always.
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I have to stop this mess. I’m a little bit concerned about giving a keynote presentation in English.
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So, I wish everyone could speak, but still, those who came before us did an amazing job.
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Yes, there are some coined phrases like...
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A meaningless one that's doubtful, but it's nice.
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And so, we are nice. And then we have discount stickers on some laptops.
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I actually like this phrase because it sounds like a Nina song in Japanese which means able.
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So, there are terms focused on inclusive attitudes within the community.
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That's quite a nice phrase and impressive for me.
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I know I’m not really a nice person inside.
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So, because the phrase about being nice is quite embarrassing to me, I'm kind of stuck.
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You know, I came up with the idea of reform, which came to mind.
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Ruby is nice to be nice here. It is a place that tries to be nice to you.
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It's a You-know-generated shell, so it is a nice place. Unless you locate the source code.
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But, yeah, this year we don’t need excuses. So, be nice.
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Yeah, shake hands with everyone you can, and with the next person too.
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Be nice. Being nice makes you proud.
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Very nice, very nice try!
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Keeping the advice of the community does well for redesigns.
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We are no longer the new kids on the corner.
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We have grown older; Ruby was born in 1993.
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This echoes the definition of the first day of the language.
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For software, it's quite important that a name is significant.
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Software is a virtual entity so a name is the only thing we can grab.
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Hence, I named my language Ruby.
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February 24th, 1993, Wednesday. So, it turned 25 this year.
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That means Ruby has grown older.
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Java projects started in 1993, and Java was released to the public in 1995.
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Ruby was a leap project that was also started in 1993.
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Ruby was released to the public on December 21, 1995.
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So Ruby is as old as Java.
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Recently, new languages emerged, like Swift, Go, Elixir, and many more.
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Some people try new languages or even move on.
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Some claim that Ruby is dead.
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I used to believe that, but I see so many people here—millions of people still using Ruby.
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They’re writing numerous applications all over the world.
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I've attended some conferences that had over a thousand attendees.
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This one is quite big, with around six to eight hundred people here.
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It is fantastic, and Ruby is still alive.
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However, if we make significant changes that break your software, people might scream.
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Language designers often make mistakes. No one is perfect.
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We've tried to fix those mistakes in the past.
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Many languages have made incompatible changes.
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Ruby 1.x had a huge gap between 1.8 and 1.9.
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I don’t regret that decision, but it did create a division.
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Ruby 3 has a compatibility gap; it can sometimes cause huge issues.
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The community has supported us, but some developers create patches.
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We've tried to create better languages, but drastic changes can lead to cancellation.
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For example, the project KGS was canceled due to a lack of community support.
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We don’t have 56; it was canceled, but 57 remains with gradual changes.
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That’s how the development has gone, taking years to get there.
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This is sometimes called the second system syndrome.
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We are not perfect. We have made mistakes.
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We want to eliminate these mistakes, reduce technical debt.
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At some point, we got mad and wanted to throw everything away.
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However, only a few second systems succeed.
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The very few succeed due to deep problems that put burdens on users.
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Ruby should be stable. Ruby is mature. Ruby has grown up.
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To maintain compatibility is vital to avoid migration costs.
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Old users are causing community divisions.
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We had compatibility problems with Ruby 1.8.
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Some also boycotted the new version.
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It was tough; I was shocked.
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I put my effort into creating Ruby 1.3, which was a good version.
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But still, the community refused to adopt the new version.
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Some projects were canceled; people left the community for new languages.
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The open-source community is real; it's a group of people.
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There's no membership initiation in the Ruby community.
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It's non-exclusive; you can use Ruby alongside JavaScript or other languages.
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The membership is non-exclusive, meaning we can't expect strong loyalty.
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In fact, the Ruby community does show loyalty, but we can't force them to stay.
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If something happens or if some new technology looks attractive, people will leave.
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It’s a reality we cannot stop.
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So we need to attract the community.
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We must recognize that making breaking changes may push our members away.
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It's quite difficult to keep our community active amid these changes.
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If we maintain compatibility, it can be boring.
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You will lose interest in migrating technologies.
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It's a contradiction; we want our community active and growing.
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But to keep them engaged while also maintaining stability is a challenge.
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If we keep things stagnant and filthy, people will leave.
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If we initiate progress, breaking changes will upset people.
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No matter what we do, some people will leave.
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So the problem lies in managing changes.
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We like changes, but at the same time, we dislike them.
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So we have to manage it.
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There are good changes and bad changes; bad changes bring frustration.
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For example, changes that make you work harder are often viewed negatively.
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If you don't want to work but are forced to, it leads to upset.
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On the other hand, changes that spark joy and excitement in your workflow are good.
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Good changes enhance performance and productivity.
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A clean language is not a dead language for me, but it is for you.
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You may not care about Ruby being a clean language.
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Making a language simpler can lead to self-destruction from the designer's perspective.
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So, we must forget about self-satisfaction and avoid bad changes.
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This is an important design principle to apply to software.
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Let’s move our focus towards satisfying users.
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Good performance can be considered a good change.
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No one can complain about enhancing performance.
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I never considered Ruby as primarily a first language.
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I focused on making it enjoyable, satisfactory for users.
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My goal is to push the programmer's burden to computers, enabling humans to work less.
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In that sense, language must be less efficient because it has to do more things.
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Ruby is intentionally slower than other languages like Java or C++.
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But we focus on making Ruby faster.
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Every year, Ruby gains speed; on average, 5 to 10% faster.
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We aim to double this year.
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Ruby's improvement has been consistent and measurable.
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Two years ago, in this keynote, I presented the phrase: Ruby 3 by 3.
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Meaning Ruby will be three times faster than Ruby 2.
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At that time, it felt like a dream and I didn’t even believe it would be possible.
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However, we must motivate the community to achieve this goal.
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We have some new technologies in development.
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MRI stands for Matz's Ruby Interpreter (not true for Ruby anymore).
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It includes a JIT compiler facility, making Ruby faster.
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However, Ruby has constraints due to its history, and the past uses affect memory consumption.
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Ruby should run on the smallest possible code items.
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But we can't consume excessive memory to speed it up.
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That’s a constraint; we need Ruby to maintain memory efficiency.
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It must also run on many platforms, maintaining compatibility.
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For instance, we need it to run on various editions of Windows, Mac, and many CPUs.
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These constraints make upgrades and developments challenging.
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This year, we are exposed to various developments.
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Makarov, who developed the new Ruby 3, is doing an incredible job.
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The important aspect of this new interpreter is optimizing code efficiency.
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It utilizes a register-based internal representation, improving performance.
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This new implementation creates fewer instructions, reducing memory traffic.
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While some may complain about this, it is beneficial overall.
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With Ruby 3, we can expect faster speeds without significantly increasing memory usage.
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The low memory usage is crucial, as it allows for smoother operations.
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Adapting our approach to memory can significantly improve Ruby's performance.
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The idea is to keep dependencies to a minimum, maintaining control.
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We should avoid dependence on third-party libraries due to maintainability issues.
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We need to ensure projects are self-sustaining within Ruby.
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The libraries should not also consume excessive memory, as this could lead to bottlenecks.
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The memory usage needs to be as optimized as possible while maintaining functionality.
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Ruby runs on various platforms and needs to adapt to those changes.
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With new technological advancements, we can seamlessly transition these benefits to Ruby.
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We’ve had consistent discussions on how Ruby can evolve to maintain functionality.
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With this level of improvement, we must remember to gauge the community's interest.
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Adding new features is an important aspect of our development process.
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This ensures that we keep Ruby relevant.
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To do this, we need to have clearer communication with the community.
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We need to keep everything simplified while also adding more.
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Recently, we've supported Unicode 10, making Ruby more internationally friendly.
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Then we've included new performance metrics, covering traceability.
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We added better debugging, profiling, and coverage features.
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Enhancing user experience through error messages is also crucial.
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These improvements are necessary for a richer experience in Ruby.
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Maintaining compatibility is key.
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We consistently aim to add functionality without compromising existing features.
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For instance, we introduced classes and methods to increase versatility.
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However, string manipulation became complex, needing new approaches.
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Characters need to represent more than just a set of bytes.
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So, we are focusing on supporting multiple characters extensively.
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Now, we are empowered to process thousands of characters easily.
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With this, it allows Ruby to be even more user-friendly.
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The combination of two code points creates unique identifiers.
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This introduces a new layer of flexibility in programming.
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Combining different attributes enables better character representation.
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Recent Unicode developments are empowering Ruby and its users.
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We are reviewing some of our existing features for improvements.
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Potential changes can invoke mixed feelings; however, it's all for the better.
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Adopting changes must align with community needs.
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Ruby’s design must evolve to cater to the developer community.
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Language design changes have shifted as the community matures.
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As designers, we remain open to suggestions.
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We are here to gather feedback and insights from everyone.
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This input is crucial as we design the next iterations of Ruby.
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To summarize today's discussion: we must continue to welcome changes.
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Maximizing good changes while minimizing disruptions should be our goal.
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Ruby was designed with the programmer in mind, focusing on usability.
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I aimed to create a language that I would enjoy using, and thankfully many others have enjoyed it as well.
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Our users mean a lot to us, and we want to help reduce mistakes shared in the community.
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As we approach Ruby's 20th birthday on February 24th, 2015, we are planning a celebration.
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Although attendance may be limited, we are also considering a virtual event.
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We invite everyone to tweet their memories or inspirations related to Ruby.
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We want to compile these into a digital scrapbook for everyone to view.
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This is just the beginning of our collective journey with Ruby.
