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In 2009 _why tweeted: "programming is rather thankless. you see your works become replaced by superior works in a year. unable to run at all in a few more." I take this as a call to action to run old code. In this talk we dig, together, through historical Ruby. We will have fun excavating interesting gems from the past. Further, I will answer the following questions: What code greater than 12 years old still runs in Ruby 3.1? What idioms have changed? And for the brave: how can you set up an environment to run Ruby 1.8 code from ~2008 on a modern machine?
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In the talk titled "Ruby Archaeology" delivered by Nick Schwaderer at RailsConf 2022, the speaker explores historical Ruby programming, inspired by a thought-provoking tweet from a prominent Ruby figure, _why. He emphasizes the importance of running old code and understanding the evolution of Ruby, particularly through the lens of gems that were popular over a decade ago. The speaker posits that examining past coding practices can enhance modern Ruby programming and encourages developers to explore Ruby's rich history. Key points discussed include: - **Setting Up Old Ruby Environments**: Schwaderer details how to simulate a Ruby 1.8 environment on modern machines using tools such as Vagrant. He navigates the challenges of accessing outdated libraries and packages. - **Exploring Historical Gems**: He showcases several Ruby gems, including Markaby (introduced by _why), Instiki (a lightweight wiki created by David Heinemeier Hansson), and Merb (a lightweight framework that later merged with Rails). He discusses their features and relevance. - **Redefining Coding Practices**: Schwaderer reflects on coding idioms from earlier versions of Ruby, discussing methods like method missing and the structure of code from that era, emphasizing creativity in coding practices. - **Community Evolution**: The merger between Merb and Rails is highlighted as a significant moment in the Ruby community, showcasing collaboration over competition, which ultimately evolved into Rails 3. - **Encouraging Exploration**: The speaker motivates the audience to delve into old Ruby codebases, suggesting that many gems and libraries remain unexplored and can provide insights into Ruby's functionality and style. At the conclusion, Schwaderer provides a Vagrant box with pre-configured environments to facilitate exploration, encouraging programmers to appreciate the artistry of older Ruby code and keep an open mind towards various coding approaches. Overall, Schwaderer’s talk serves as both a nostalgic journey into Ruby's past and a call to action for developers to become Ruby archaeologists, unearthing valuable lessons from the language's history.
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