Ruby: how a language reflects its people

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world”, said Wittgenstein.

In human-to-human languages the same core ideas get shaped differently depending on the language in which they are spoken. What if every computational language engenders a set (or a subset) of culture and values, and as a consequence attracts and shapes a corresponding community?

What are the values that entered into the language by way of its core committers and what are the values we identify with as a community. How can making these values explicit help us foster a better community?

Finally, what might Ruby be like if its community were primarily French, German, Italian rather than English-speaking and Japanese?

About our speaker

Alex Coles unabashedly wears the hat of “generalist”. He leads development of MyMaths at Oxford University Press. He was previously CTO of an education startup. very active in the Ruby community, having founded the annual eurucamp camp/conference and JRubyConf EU. He has also contributed extensively to many open-source projects including OpenProject, RefineryCMS and DataMapper.

About our venue

Our meetup will take place at our venue, Union St.

After the meetup, we’ll be heading to The Devonshire Cat for drinks, food and chat.