By Brett DeNeve:
February 24th, 1993, a Japanese man by the name of Yukihiro Matsumto, or “Matz” as he is referred to online, finally decided to act on what his gut had been telling him. Having worked with countless programming languages, Python and Perl for example, he long felt the need for a change; something more natural, something that brought the joy of being a programmer into full bloom with every interaction. Matz took what positives he could find in the existing languages of the time and added his own personal touches to them, bringing to life the programming language we refer to as Ruby.
Now, a mere twenty years following Ruby’s creation, The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library’s Mason O. Damon Auditorium will hold The Nickel City Ruby Conference on September 20th and 21st. These two days are jam packed with speakers, 15 in all, bringing with them knowledge beyond their years on modern-day Ruby-ism’s and the ruby community at large. Anyone involved in the tech scene, whether a professional or a very ambitious amateur, is invited to come check this event out. No matter the level of programmer, there is something to take away from this weekend-long Ruby-a-thon. And if these dates don’t fit your calendar, Ignite Buffalo and z80 lab’s will be book-ending the weekend respectively; Ignite from 7 to 9 p. m. on September 19th at the Pan-American Grill inside the Hotel at the Lafayette and z80 coding retreat on September 22nd (more information regarding this event is said to be coming out as this coding weekend draws closer).
Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumto worked on Ruby by himself from 1993 until about 1996 whereas a Ruby community began to blossom. This highly anticipated weekend in Downtown Buffalo is a true testament to his work and how far the programming language has come since its conceptualization. According to the twitter wave Ruby has going at the moment, people from Toronto as well as Boston are discussing attendance as nothing less than mandatory.
The guiding philosophy behind Ruby’s creation, says Matz, is the “principle of least surprise.”
Ruby is meant for expression; for enjoyment by the programmer. Ruby is described by some as simple in appearance, yet complex on the inside, paralleling that of the human body. Ruby is a living, breathing language and if you are into the scene this is definitely not something you want to miss out on.
More information regarding tickets, speakers, schedule, and sponsorship can be found at http://nickelcityruby.com.