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In the opening keynote for RubyConf 2016, Yukihiro 'Matz' Matsumoto reflected on the origins and growth of the Ruby programming language while discussing its future direction and community. He shared his journey from the initial creation of Ruby in 1993 as a personal project, driven by his passion for programming languages, to the emergence of a flourishing global community of approximately one million Ruby users today.

### Key Points Discussed:
- **Origin and Growth of Ruby:**  
  - Matz began learning programming in 1993 and developed Ruby, aiming to create a language distinct from others like Lisp and Perl. Ruby's first public release occurred in 1995, which unexpectedly garnered a large community interest.
  - The first RubyConf in 2001 had just 30 attendees, while RubyConf 2016 hosted around 650 participants, showcasing the significant growth of the Ruby user base.
- **Understanding Open Source Community:**  
  - Matz discussed the nature of the Ruby community as inclusive and non-exclusive, stressing the importance of continually attracting new members for sustainability.
- **Challenges in Language Evolution:**  
  - Addressing concerns about Ruby’s relevance, Matz acknowledged challenges due to changing technological landscapes and the importance of continuously adapting Ruby while maintaining community compatibility.
  - He shared insights on the need for gradual, thoughtful changes to avoid alienating users and emphasized the lessons learned from other programming languages' struggles.
- **Future of Ruby Language:**  
  - Matz proposed rebuilding parts of Ruby to enhance features like multi-threading and introduced a new concurrency model called Guild to improve concurrent programming without sacrificing compatibility.
  - The introduction of static type features through 'dark inference' aims to retain Ruby's dynamic nature while enhancing error detection and documentation practices.
- **Community Engagement and Collaboration:**  
  - Matz concluded with a call to action, urging all community members to contribute towards improving Ruby and embracing the goals set for Ruby 3, including enhanced concurrency and performance improvements.
  - He highlighted recent updates in Ruby 2.4 that promote simplification and efficiency in the language.
- **Final Remarks:**  
  - Matz expressed hope for a bright future for Ruby and shared a lighthearted moment featuring his dog, reinforcing the importance of community connection.

### Conclusion:
Matz's keynote underscored the significance of compatibility and gradual progress in language design, encouraging collaboration within the Ruby community to navigate the challenges of evolving technologies, maintaining user experience, and ensuring the language's longevity. He emphasized the core values of kindness and cooperation as essential to Ruby's ongoing success and development.

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