Fireside Chat with DHH, Matz and Tobias Lütke - Rails World 2024

Ruby and Rails thrive by embracing their minority position and not trying to please everyone - being selective and opinionated is seen as a strength

The isolation of Ruby’s early development in Japan helped establish strong conceptual integrity before reaching western audiences

Trust in users is a core philosophy - Ruby doesn’t try to protect programmers from themselves, unlike languages like Java that are designed with “child gates”

The community operates on voluntary alignment rather than forced adoption - people choose Ruby/Rails because it matches their values and aesthetics

Long-term stability and backwards compatibility are prioritized over chasing trends - investments in Ruby/Rails fundamentals continue paying off decades later

The organic, open source nature of the community allows for co-authorship while maintaining clear decision makers who protect the core vision

Physical and cultural separation can be beneficial for developing authentic ideas without excessive outside influence

Static typing and other features are consciously rejected to maintain Ruby’s character, even if it means remaining a minority language

The community values craftsmanship, optimism and gratitude while avoiding bureaucracy and forced standardization

Success is measured by having enough engaged users who share core values rather than mainstream adoption or market dominance