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Hello, everyone. Thank you for being here today.
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Today is a laid-back session about Ruby archaeology. I appreciate your presence.
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My name is Nick Schwaderer, but you can call me Schwad. I work at Shopify, a company that you might know by its occasional mispronunciation.
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Normally, I work as a freelance detective in the history of Ruby. You may have come across some of my work. Now, I must clarify that I am not an accredited authority in this field, but that's the charm of being freelance.
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Recently, however, I received an accolade that is quite heartwarming, although I can't officially accept it for tax reasons.
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As of Monday, I began working with Shopify’s Ruby on Rails infrastructure team, which is thrilling for me.
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This is proof that Shopify is committed to supporting my work in Ruby archaeology.
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You may be wondering what I mean by Ruby archaeology. My interest in Ruby stretches back to earlier versions of the language. For those familiar with Ruby from a decade ago or more, I maintain a newsletter that covers historical aspects of Ruby.
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This newsletter is a compilation of blog posts, releases, discussions, and more from specific points in Ruby's history. In addition, I created the Portal Gun gem, which allows users to specify a date and get a gem file corresponding to Ruby's state at that time. Although there's been some amazing work done by Mike D'Alessio on a tool called 'Bundler as of,' if you're interested in this sort of thing, I recommend using that instead.
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While exploring Ruby's history, I've often reflected on the late _why, who symbolizes whimsy in programming to me. That sense of whimsy is what draws many of us to Ruby. I believe it's essential to consider the artistry, joy, and community aspects of being a Rubyist.
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For this talk, I want to recall a poignant quote from _why, just weeks before his disappearance: 'Programming is rather thankless. You see your works become replaced by superior works in a year and unable to run at all in a few more.' This resonates with me as a call to action for us.
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Today, I'll discuss how we might set up an environment to run Ruby 1.8 code from around 2008, explore three gems that were popular back then, and suggest some ideas that might still be relevant to our current coding practices.
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Setting up a coding environment to code in 2009 requires some tricks. First, keep in mind that Ruby versions 1.8 and 1.9 were phased out in 2014. It's been a significant amount of time since those versions were the latest. Yet, understanding our past is crucial for the evolution of our mature and rich ecosystem.
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To ensure we're not stuck in the present while looking to the past, it's important to keep an eye on the coding styles, techniques, and debates from those early years. It's easy for developers to mirror a single pattern in Ruby, but I encourage everyone to express themselves creatively and explore Ruby’s diversity.
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In this exploration, I set up a Vagrant box to help simulate that 2008 environment. Should you be unfamiliar with what Vagrant is, it allows you to create and manage virtualized environments with ease. I tailored it to point to an operating system that was relevant during 2008.
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Once the Vagrant setup is complete, you can SSH into it and face the next challenge: Obtaining the relevant packages from that time. To address this, you would update the sources.list file to refer to old repositories that contain packages pertinent to 2008.
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Diving into this archaeological endeavor should be embraced fully; you cannot approach it half-heartedly. If you encounter bugs or issues, refrain from thinking that you are doing something incorrectly because running old Ruby is meant to yield historical bugs. Part of the exercise is to figure out these bugs through web searches using timestamps relevant to your targeted period.
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Keeping a consistent Ruby version in this box is fairly straightforward. I completed it with 'apt-get install ruby-dev 1.8.7,' which installs the right version. However, getting RubyGems installed can pose issues when those libraries try to reach out to the present. I approached this challenge by manually downloading .gem files and using local installs.
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When installing gems, it's often necessary to follow some iterations to create executables to make the process easier. At some point, I decided to refrain from over-engineering the process. So, I left some parts as is.
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In all this, remember it parallels how one might operate when transitioning systems, like when you get a new computer. You often have to reinstall a series of applications. I encourage everyone to use their own setup, configure things according to their preferences, and figure out how best they interact with their development process.
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Now, let’s test out the outcomes. I'll introduce you to the first gem we're examining today: Market B. Can I get a show of hands for those who have used Market B? It’s exciting to see that interest! Market B was created by the late _why, and it made its debut in January 2006.
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Immediately, there was discussion on its application with Rails as it enabled more Ruby-like syntax. If you have the time, I recommend revisiting the initial announcement that showcases many contributors such as Dave Thomas. The code from back then is quite nostalgic, and some might even find it reminiscent of shapes seen in various frameworks today.
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This is a recording from my Vagrant environment, which didn't allow me to perform live coding here at RailsConf. I intended to showcase the installation of Market B 0.6.6. When I did so, I found that requiring the RubyGems library is necessary to proceed.
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Once instantiated, the gem provides a simple interface that accurately reflects your intentions, allowing for a seamless construction of HTML pages without needing to decipher the manual. Once set up, the output looks clean and serves the purpose.
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Continuing from here, I’ll mark the significant commits and provide insights based on the points in the project's history. One discussion point I came across during my research dealt with nested methods.
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I reflect on the interesting use case where methods can be hidden within a class by wrapping them in another method. The beauty of Ruby allows us to explore numerous creative possibilities.
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I noticed the term ‘Builder’ frequently associated with creating domain-specific languages. For those who don’t know, it's worth mentioning that the 'Builder' class was introduced by Jim Wyrick, which many of you might recognize from the Ruby community.
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As I walked through the existing code using Merb, it led me to another gem named Instiki. Can I get a show of hands for Instiki users? Instiki debuted in March 2004 and operated on a straightforward Wiki system, all written in Ruby.
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It’s fascinating to think how it quietly SaaS-ed itself into the modern web architecture that we often focus on today. Instiki is still in use today, such as at the University of Texas Physics department, and it's quite the accomplishment for a gem that often goes unnoticed.
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To use this on a machine, I devised a simple pathway—setting up basics and then connecting to an outside network. By sharing folders with your host machine, you can enhance your workflow in your editor.
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Once you've done that, the installation process can be quite swift: perform a bundle install and run Ruby Instiki. It's quite straightforward, ideally suited for adapting legacy applications.
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I proceeded by creating an admin credential, thus launching the Instiki wiki.
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You can create a landing page, use textile formatting, and create references to other pages even on the first try. So, if it seems that you’re at a dead end, you can still cross-link and manage your pages easily.
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As I echo my run through the code functionality of Instiki, it's clear that the framework supports basic features, making it a compelling tool that stands the test of time. No wonder this is a project worth mentioning during today’s nostalgia.
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Classic Ruby patterns that continue to persist include the use of 'try' methods, asserting and redefining contexts over time. Revisiting this behavior with the current use of Ruby brings interesting reflections.
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Despite differences, leveraging the historical context clarifies many current programming practices in Ruby. And let's not ignore the conventions around block delimiters that have evolved as well, where we've seen a conflict in how we structure methods over the years.
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We’ve talked about various methods of rewriting, as well as incorporating directives for line breaks, which also play into how we understand our coding styles today. Recognizing the benefits of both end and curly braces in Ruby is paramount.
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And as we move through these elegant expressions, I can't help but share my love for multi-line blocks, a notorious feature with deep roots in Ruby history.
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So remember that each syntax choice we face can carry additional semantics. It's worth debating in your team how these choices could be framed as we lean further into Ruby understanding.
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Moving forward, I'll examine another gem—the elegant Merb, a micro-framework unveiled in October 2006 by the promising Portlandian, Ezra Zygmuntowicz.
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Merb offered its own interpretation for the cursor of frameworks in the Ruby community and aimed to provide a nimble and fun approach to DSLs, looser than its competitor Rails.
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This gem played an important role in the major Ruby ecosystem shift, notably merging with Rails, which is often considered a tantalizing historical moment.
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The merger in December 2008 symbolized a significant unification in our community, as Rails absorbed key Merb contributions, crafting a richer ecosystem with diverse innovations.
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Yehuda Katz, a key figure in this transition, documented extensive work leading to this conclusion—a transformation that many Ruby on Rails developers are grateful for to this day.
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As I close, I hope my exploration of dialects—both historical and contemporary—shows the impact on how we interact with Ruby. Each merger is online proof of a community willing to cooperate because they recognize shared goals.
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This theme resonates beyond coding itself; it highlights how code is just one medium we express our creativity and passion in the tech space.
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So please, consider becoming Ruby archaeologists in your own right. Test out old gems, discover forgotten aspects of Ruby, and relink with nostalgic development practices.
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With over two decades of Ruby history available to us, don't hesitate to explore. Every gem has a story to tell, and it's all waiting to be discovered.
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Thank you once again for your time today. I appreciate every one of you for being a part of this exploration with me, and I invite you to connect with me throughout the conference.
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Cheers, and here's to many more Ruby archaeological adventures in the future!
