Q&A with Yukihiro Matz Matsumoto, the Creator of Ruby

Klint Finley | August 31st READ 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 hired by +eroku, the Ruby #"atform,as,a,ser'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%

/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 small diale"t of Ru%y for em%edded de)i"es /hat is your 'ision for that0 1he 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 *"atform,as,a,&er'ice in (enera" inf"uenced the way you a##roach Ruby0

$ 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 01M( sin"e so many resour"es ha)e %een dedi"ated to making "on"urren"y &ork on the 01M 2o &e run 0Ru%y on the 01M -hen theres the forking model #ro"ess( &hi"h im#lements a ty#e of "on"urren"y And third( theres an e3#erimental #ro"ess "alled multi#le )irtual ma"hines or M1M 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 human relationshi#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 for them to %e hostile You try to see the issue from their #ers#ecti'e0 1o 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 $)e studied 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