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Q&A with Yukihiro Matz Matsumoto,
the Creator of Ruby
Klint Finley| August 31stREAD MORE
Yukihiro Matz Matsumoto created Ruby in 1! and
re"eased it to the #ub"ic in 1$% ince then, Ruby and the
framework Ruby on Rai"s
ha'e taken off, earnin( a seat at the #ro(rammin( tab"e a"on(
side other #o#u"ar
"an(ua(es "ike )a'a and *+*% Matz was recent"y hiredby +eroku,
the Ruby
#"atformasaser'ice owned by a"esforce%com, as the chief
architect of Ruby% - sat
down with him at the .reamforce e'ent to ta"k about his ro"e at
+eroku, the future
of Ruby and his ad'ice for o#en source de'e"o#ers%
http://servicesangle.com/blog/author/klint/http://servicesangle.com/blog/2011/08/31/qa-with-yukihiro-matz-matsumoto-the-creator-of-ruby/?http://news.heroku.com/news_releases/ruby-creator-yukihiro-matsumoto-joins-heroku-http://servicesangle.com/blog/author/klint/http://servicesangle.com/blog/2011/08/31/qa-with-yukihiro-matz-matsumoto-the-creator-of-ruby/?http://news.heroku.com/news_releases/ruby-creator-yukihiro-matsumoto-joins-heroku-
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/hat are you doin( for +eroku0 /hat sorts of #rob"ems are you
workin( on0
Heroku doesnt ask me to do anything for them !ou "an "onsider
them my s#onsor $m
dedi"ated to the design and im#lementation of Ru%y full time $m
&orking on Ru%y 1'(
&hi"h is the "urrent )ersion *ere also starting on +, And
&ere &orking on the smalldiale"t of Ru%y for em%edded
de)i"es
/hat is your 'ision for that0 he embedded systems0
-he goal of Ru%y is to make #rogrammers ha##y $ started out to
make a #rogramming
language that &ould make me ha##y( and as a side effe"t its
made many( many
#rogrammers ha##y Es#e"ially *e% de)elo#ers .ut Ru%y hasnt
rea"hed de)elo#ers&ho &ork on em%edded de)i"es( mo%ile
de)i"es( "ontrollers( things like that $ ho#e to
make them ha##y too
You2'e mentioned that +eroku2s de#"oyment mode" is 'ery (ood%
+as +eroku or
*"atformasaer'ice in (enera" inf"uenced the way you a##roach
Ruby0
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$ dont think so Ru%y and Ru%y on Rails ha)e made #rogramming
easier and faster( %ut
de#loyment remained an issue Herkou is im#ro)ing that *e share a
design #hiloso#hy(
%ut that hasnt "hanged Ru%y
You desi(ned Ruby for yourse"f% +as Ruby2s #o#u"arity affected
the way you
de'e"o# the "an(ua(e0
-he %asi" #hiloso#hy has not "hanged( %ut &ith so many
#eo#le using Ru%y no&its hard
to make %ig "hanges /hanges ha)e to %e made more slo&ly
"om#ared to 1, years ago
.o you ha'e #"ans to brin( concurrency to the "an(ua(e0 You2'e
ta"ked about the
actor mode" in the #ast%
Real "on"urren"y is )ery diffi"ult to im#lement *e)e taken a
fe& a##roa"hes One is
using the 0M( sin"e so many resour"es ha)e %een dedi"ated to
making "on"urren"y
&ork on the 0M 2o &e run 0Ru%y on the 0M -hen theres the
forking model #ro"ess(
&hi"h im#lements a ty#e of "on"urren"y
And third( theres an e#erimental #ro"ess "alled multi#le )irtual
ma"hines or MM
Ea"h )irtual ma"hine gets a thread -heres a guy &orking on
this at the 4ni)ersity of-okyo( he 5ust #u%lished a #a#er on it $t
"ould end u# %eing integrated into Ru%y in the
future( %ut $ dont kno& yet
You2'e mentioned that the community is Ruby2s (reatest asset% .o
you ha'e any
ad'ice for o#en source teams bui"din( communities0
4nlike the te"hni"al as#e"t of %uilding soft&are( "ommunity
is a%out human
relationshi#s 2ome de)elo#ers dont like this #art( %ut sometimes
the humanrelationshi#s are im#ortant $n fa"t( theyre often the MO2-
im#ortant #art of a #ro5e"t
2ometimes youll ha)e a hostile #erson "ome into the "ommunity
*hen $ ha)e a
diffi"ult "on)ersation &ith someone( $ ha)e a rule6 $
remem%er there must %e a reason forthem to %e hostile
You try to see the issue from their #ers#ecti'e0 o stay
ci'i"0
-o stay "i)il( yes And to stay "alm( to kee# from getting
angry
/hat is your fa'orite "an(ua(e other than Ruby0
A"tually( 7is# is my fa)orite $ts the an"estor for e)ery good
language Re"ently $)estudied the 7ua language from .ra8il $t shares
a lot &ith the small diale"t of Ru%y $)e
learned a lot from it -he list goes on( $m a language geek
