On a parallel note, I was asked if updated versions of key books would
help the community. I'm going to get on a soapbox here, please let me
know if you feel I'm off target.
I think we, people living right now, have an abundance of great
languages. Even older languages like C are going strong and very useful.
Newer ones like Rust and Swift can provide joy as well. This is crucial
since the ability to understand basic coding and computers is also a key
skill for people entering the workforce.
"Writing code" is what makes an average person a working coder.
Thoughtfully improving, with intention, is what makes a better coder.
Writing code takes time, energy, and interest. No matter how good
something is we have a hard time getting to it and sticking with it when
there's no internal motivation.
Money is external motivation. People work for money so they can pay the
bills, get food, and buy computer books. Having the book is secondary to
wanting, really wanting, to dive into it and learn. I can do stuff in a
small number of computer languages but Ruby is the one that inspires me
to come home after a tiring day at work and create. I find joy in Ruby.
Others may find their joy in Go, Python, C, PHP, or Rust. Mine is in
Ruby. I think there are a lot of people who only code "X" because it
might get them a job, or they need to keep the job they have. That wears
on you after a while. At least it wore on me.
I'd really like to encourage the community to look at how we can better
inspire joy in people, through Ruby. The "Ruby Newbie" market share
seems unduly small given the power of the language. It almost feels like
we're happy to stay the minute "insiders club" and not try to bring joy
to others. I'm sure that's not intentional, but it is how it feels.
Ruby 3 is in progress. Is this a good time to help the community grow in
size and depth? Do we collectively have interest in doing so?
Leam
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