Special Guest: Yukihiro Matsumoto (The creator of Ruby programming language) 1/2: A single email sparked Ruby's growth! The experience as a missionary was the foundation for global success!
Special Guest: Yukihiro Matsumoto (The creator of Ruby programming language) 1/2: A single email sparked Ruby's growth! The experience as a missionary was the foundation for global success! [https://en.kaigaiiju.ch/episodes/matz1] https://en.kaigaiiju.ch/episodes/matz1 [https://en.kaigaiiju.ch/episodes/matz1]
guest: Frequent International Speaker Creator of the Ruby Programming Language Yukihiro MatsumotoThe creator of the programming language Ruby. He is the Chairman of the Ruby Association and serves as a technical advisor for several companies, including ZOZO, Inc. and Linkers Corporation. Through his work with open source and community building, he contributes to enhancing the skills and motivation of engineers both in Japan and internationally.A resident of Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, he was made an honorary citizen of the city in 2009 in recognition of his achievements in developing Ruby. In 2012, he was selected by the Cabinet Office of Japan as one of the "Japanese people active on the global stage and sharing the message of Japan." He is commonly known by his nickname, "Matz."https://x.com/yukihiro_matz [https://x.com/yukihiro_matz]
summary: (original episode: https://kaigaiiju.ch/episodes/matz1 )On Christmas Eve 2024, we welcomed a special guest: Yukihiro Matsumoto, the creator of the globally used programming language Ruby! Mr. Matsumoto aka Matz, who was invited to "EuRuKo," Europe's largest Ruby conference held in Bosnia in 2024, kindly gave us his time for this recording.Although Matz has no experience immigrating overseas, his English skills were polished through interactions with his American colleagues when he was a Christian missionary during his student days. From that experience, he lost any resistance to English. Later, regarding the programming language Ruby, which he had started as a hobby, he received a message (in English) from the Dave Thomas, who wanted to write a book about it. The publication of that book became the initial catalyst for Ruby's spread. Since then, conferences have been held overseas annually, and he has been actively involved on an international level.Matz says that you don't need to be perfect at English, and believing so can greatly expand your possibilities. He also mentions that since English is the world's lingua franca, not speaking it can lead to a closed-off world, which he feels is a great waste. Furthermore, he explains there is an expression in the Bible, "fellow citizens," which means that although people may have different birth countries or passports, they share the same faith as Christians. He believes the same can be said for the tech industry; if you can communicate based on a shared love for programming or Ruby, you can become friends. Since Ruby is the language Matz wanted for himself, people who like the language have similar tastes, and he feels that interacting with such people, regardless of nationality, is very enjoyable.Ruby is a programming language that started as a hobby and is now used all over the world. The fact that Matz could speak English—or at least had no resistance to it—was undoubtedly a key factor in Ruby's development and success. Conversely, there must be countless innovations that have missed their opportunity due to a lack of communication with people overseas. This is a true shame, and in that respect, Ruby stands as a wonderful example of global success.Matz, thank you so much for sharing your invaluable stories with us. In the second half, we plan to bring you a tech talk with excerpts of the more technical content from the same interview. Please look forward to it! Merry Christmas!#matz1
