Chapter 1. Ruby under the microscope
This chapter covers
- Minimizing developer cycles
- Loading a lot of features in a little code
Often people, especially computer engineers, focus on the machines. They think, “By doing this, the machine will run faster. By doing this, the machine will run more effectively. By doing this, the machine will something something something.” They are focusing on machines. But in fact we need to focus on humans, on how humans care about doing programming or operating the application of the machines. We are the masters. They are the slaves.
Yukihiro Matsumoto, creator of Ruby
You’ve heard it all before, right? A new language or framework becomes the flavor du jour, and everyone starts talking about it. First there’s a low rumble on websites, then someone gets ahold of it and does something cool, and out comes the marketing speak. I’m sure you can imagine Dave from marketing barking at you about another amazing technology: “You’ll be more productive! Our synergistic approach to dynamic, domain-driven development will allow you to get to market quicker and get a better return on investment! Get a lower TCO and higher ROI over J2EE with our XP-driven Scrum model based on XML! Take apart your FOB and overhaul your BOB with our easy-to-use turnkey solution!” To some in the world of software development, it sounds like Ruby is all hype and buzz, but this book will show you that you can develop “real” software with Ruby.