Happy 18th Birthday, Ruby!
Yes, I'm sad enough to have had this in my calendar for some time but.. it's Ruby's 18th "birthday" today! Happy Birthday Ruby! While this means it can drink, vote, and otherwise join its slightly older friends Perl (24) and Python (21) in the nightclubs of Europe, I was surprised to learn that coming of age in Japan is at 20 years old.
From Wikipedia's Ruby entry:
The name "Ruby" was decided on during an online chat session between Matsumoto and Keiju Ishitsuka on February 24, 1993, before any code had been written for the language. Initially two names were proposed: "Coral" and "Ruby", with the latter being chosen by Matsumoto in a later email to Ishitsuka. Matsumoto has later stated that a factor in choosing the name "Ruby" was because it was the birthstone of one of his colleagues.
Wikipedia
If you're interested in learning more, this interview with Matz back in 2001 will give you more history and background to the creation of Ruby.
While Matz has said that February 24, 1993 is Ruby's "birthday" (back when I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston was topping the charts), the first public release wasn't until December 21, 1995 when Ruby 0.95 was released and the first mailing list established. Ruby 1.0 followed a year later on December 25, 1996, establishing the tradition of Christmas Day Ruby releases.
Here's to 18 more years of Ruby, I hope!
February 24, 2011 at 5:26 am
The same time as "I will always love you"?
Seems appropriate that they're planning a remake of that
http://www.slashfilm.com/remake-bodyguard-works
Perhaps we should remake Ruby with a "young female singer with global appeal" as the new Matz.
February 24, 2011 at 8:21 am
The young girl isn't hot enough -- also ruby should be a japanese female.
I vote for: http://demo.wpgpl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/japan-girls.jpg
Also note the red hair ;)
February 24, 2011 at 8:30 am
It is sad for all italian Ruby programmers that whenever we search something related to the programming language on the Internet the results are dirtied by many links related to our prime minister's sordid sex scandals!
February 24, 2011 at 9:15 am
If I arbitrarily picked a "hot" Japanese woman for this post, I would have gotten way too much stick..
February 24, 2011 at 9:21 am
Sadly I knew who that young woman was without the need of your foot note.
February 24, 2011 at 9:24 am
18 years since conception then, surely, rather than birth?
February 24, 2011 at 9:26 am
Nowt wrong with a bit of Eastenders every now and then! That said, I'd rather watch Hollyoaks.. *g*
February 24, 2011 at 9:27 am
Yeah i share my birthday with Ruby, I'll never forget it now.
February 24, 2011 at 9:40 am
Heh. You made me think about Berlusconi.
February 24, 2011 at 9:43 am
@Kerry: Haha, it would seem that way, but the word "birthday" was used by Matz also so.. :-)
February 24, 2011 at 10:35 am
And still... so far from adulthood.
February 24, 2011 at 1:18 pm
I had never thought of ruby as a "she"... I aways imagined it as a badass samurai.
Makes sense though
February 24, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Representing developers Ruby of Brazil, what a great day! Come the adult!
February 24, 2011 at 2:52 pm
How about Berlusconi's "Ruby"? Don't know if she's 18 yet though...
February 24, 2011 at 4:14 pm
There are a lot more Berlusconi fans reading than I'd have thought!
February 24, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Frustrating... I was going to post a link to the original Japanese Ruby mascot, which was (I am not making this up) a scantily-clad manga girl. But I can't seem to dig it up.
February 24, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Ah, here we go, straight from 1999: http://www.yoshidam.net/Ruby-chan/ (warning, mildly NSFW).
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February 25, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Ruby is 18 years old? How can it be modern? I thought old languages sucked and Ruby was the new hotness?
Did a framework make it useable for the web? i'm so confused! I have to reconsidere everything about PHP, ASP, Java, ColdFusion, Python and Perl.
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February 28, 2011 at 5:49 am
"it's happened before *sigh*"
How long ago was this?