0:00:18.000,0:00:19.190
YEHUDA KATZ: So it's been ten years.

0:00:19.190,0:00:20.710
Unlike DHH I can't get up here and

0:00:20.710,0:00:22.890
tell you I've been doing Rails for ten years.

0:00:22.890,0:00:24.680
I've been doing Rails for nine or eight or[br]something

0:00:24.680,0:00:26.520
like that. But, Rails has been around

0:00:26.520,0:00:29.020
for ten years, and so it's not surprising

0:00:29.020,0:00:30.320
that a bunch of people are gonna get up here

0:00:30.320,0:00:33.360
and do a little bit of a retrospective.

0:00:33.360,0:00:36.449
So this is sort of my feeling. Oh my god,

0:00:36.449,0:00:39.230
I remember sort of thinking back in 2008,

0:00:39.230,0:00:43.340
when DHH was, was giving his talk about sort[br]of

0:00:43.340,0:00:46.150
a look back around the same year that Merb

0:00:46.150,0:00:48.930
was becoming a thing, and DHH, and we were

0:00:48.930,0:00:51.899
eventually gonna, you know, merge a little[br]bit later.

0:00:51.899,0:00:54.399
But in 2008, when DHH gave the great surplus

0:00:54.399,0:00:57.370
talk, that was sort of a retrospective year[br]too,

0:00:57.370,0:00:58.690
because we had gotten to the point

0:00:58.690,0:01:00.700
where Rails was big enough that it couldn't

0:01:00.700,0:01:02.450
actually host a competitor.

0:01:02.450,0:01:04.360
And I think it's really great that we ended

0:01:04.360,0:01:06.460
up merging in and we ended up getting another

0:01:06.460,0:01:09.580
five, six years of, of, of great, a great

0:01:09.580,0:01:12.729
framework community. But now it's another[br]opportunity to look

0:01:12.729,0:01:15.420
back and think about sort of what, what the

0:01:15.420,0:01:17.720
Rails community is and how you should think[br]about

0:01:17.720,0:01:21.220
taking the lessons of Rails to other environments.[br]And

0:01:21.220,0:01:22.960
that's sort of what my talk is about today.

0:01:22.960,0:01:25.970
So, I'm gonna start by saying, I think, if

0:01:25.970,0:01:27.659
you think about one thing about Rails, if[br]you

0:01:27.659,0:01:31.680
want to think about what Rails is above anything

0:01:31.680,0:01:35.640
else, I think Rails popularized the idea of[br]convention

0:01:35.640,0:01:38.000
over configuration. And you've been hearing[br]the term convention

0:01:38.000,0:01:41.939
over configuration for ten years now. So probably[br]it's

0:01:41.939,0:01:43.930
sort of, it's a meaningless term. It's sort[br]of

0:01:43.930,0:01:45.220
like when you hear the same word over and

0:01:45.220,0:01:47.610
over and over again, eventually you reach[br]semantic saturation.

0:01:47.610,0:01:50.299
I think we've all reached semantic saturation[br]of the

0:01:50.299,0:01:51.840
term convention over configuration.

0:01:51.840,0:01:55.189
I want to unpack it a little bit. I

0:01:55.189,0:01:58.420
think one way of thinking about it is, is

0:01:58.420,0:02:00.220
this other term called the paradox of choice.[br]This

0:02:00.220,0:02:03.439
idea that people, well I'll let DHH say what

0:02:03.439,0:02:05.520
it is, people like choices a lot more than

0:02:05.520,0:02:08.119
they like having to actually choose. Right,[br]so there's

0:02:08.119,0:02:10.810
this, I think this sort of narrow point, but

0:02:10.810,0:02:12.549
it's still a very important point, which is[br]that

0:02:12.549,0:02:17.010
people go into environments, they go into[br]programming environments

0:02:17.010,0:02:20.500
or groceries or whatever, and they like the[br]idea

0:02:20.500,0:02:22.410
of having a whole lot of choices, a lot

0:02:22.410,0:02:25.000
more than they like having to actually choose[br]what

0:02:25.000,0:02:25.390
to do.

0:02:25.390,0:02:26.790
And this is sort of the state of the

0:02:26.790,0:02:29.080
art, this is what we knew in 2008 when

0:02:29.080,0:02:32.800
David gave the great surplus talk back then.[br]And

0:02:32.800,0:02:34.390
what I want to do is go a little

0:02:34.390,0:02:38.260
bit beyond sort of these, these pithy points[br]and

0:02:38.260,0:02:41.020
talk a little bit about what, what's happening,[br]what

0:02:41.020,0:02:44.989
is actually going on that's causing this idea[br]to

0:02:44.989,0:02:47.730
occur. What's hap- causing the paradox of[br]choice? And

0:02:47.730,0:02:49.879
actually there's been a lot of science, even[br]in

0:02:49.879,0:02:53.170
2008 there was science, but in between 2008[br]and

0:02:53.170,0:02:55.069
now, or certainly 2004 and now, there's been[br]a

0:02:55.069,0:02:59.870
tremendous amount of science about what is[br]causing the

0:02:59.870,0:03:03.209
paradox of choice. What is causing convention[br]over configuration

0:03:03.209,0:03:05.019
to be effective.

0:03:05.019,0:03:06.260
And if you want to Google it, if you

0:03:06.260,0:03:08.640
want to go find something, more information[br]about this

0:03:08.640,0:03:13.010
on Wikipedia, the term is called ego depletion.[br]Sometimes

0:03:13.010,0:03:15.989
the idea of cognitive depletion. And in order[br]to

0:03:15.989,0:03:18.920
understand what's happening here, you first[br]need to understand,

0:03:18.920,0:03:20.489
you first need to think about sort of, like,

0:03:20.489,0:03:24.269
your everyday, your everyday job, your, how[br]you feel

0:03:24.269,0:03:24.950
during the day.

0:03:24.950,0:03:28.180
So you wake up in the morning. You get

0:03:28.180,0:03:30.739
out, you go out of the house, and you're

0:03:30.739,0:03:33.220
pretty much fully charged. You're ready to[br]attack the

0:03:33.220,0:03:35.580
world, you, hopefully it's sunny and you can[br]skip

0:03:35.580,0:03:37.959
down the street. And you're, you're ready[br]to do

0:03:37.959,0:03:40.230
anything. You're ready. You have all the,[br]the, the

0:03:40.230,0:03:42.739
cognitive resources in the world.

0:03:42.739,0:03:45.190
And then, you know, you get to your desk.

0:03:45.190,0:03:48.860
I find it amusing that, that character is[br]a

0:03:48.860,0:03:52.590
programmer. It's so perfect. So you get to[br]your

0:03:52.590,0:03:54.470
desk and you know you've, you've done a little

0:03:54.470,0:03:57.290
bit of work, and you're cognitive resources[br]start to

0:03:57.290,0:03:58.780
deplete a little bit. You got a little bit

0:03:58.780,0:04:02.030
fewer cognitive resources. You know, eventually[br]something happens during

0:04:02.030,0:04:05.590
the day that you might not, that might not

0:04:05.590,0:04:09.860
be so pleasant, and your cognitive resources[br]deplete and

0:04:09.860,0:04:11.870
then you reach a point, at some point during

0:04:11.870,0:04:13.010
the day - this is a Van Gogh painting

0:04:13.010,0:04:15.200
- you reach a point some time during the

0:04:15.200,0:04:17.470
day where you're really flagging. You're feeling[br]like you

0:04:17.470,0:04:18.959
don't have a lot of capacity to left to,

0:04:18.959,0:04:21.349
to do anything or to think hard. And eventually

0:04:21.349,0:04:23.550
you totally run out. You run out of cognitive

0:04:23.550,0:04:26.250
resources entirely and you're done.

0:04:26.250,0:04:28.050
And so the idea here is the concept of

0:04:28.050,0:04:30.720
cognitive depletion or ego depletion, you[br]have a certain

0:04:30.720,0:04:32.940
amount of resources and they run out. And[br]I

0:04:32.940,0:04:34.690
think most people think about this in terms[br]of,

0:04:34.690,0:04:36.560
like, you're day job. Right, so you wake up

0:04:36.560,0:04:39.690
in the morning. Throughout the day your resources[br]deplete.

0:04:39.690,0:04:40.530
You get to the end of the day, you're

0:04:40.530,0:04:42.630
out of resources. Rinse and repeat. I think[br]that's

0:04:42.630,0:04:43.940
how most people think about it and that's[br]sort

0:04:43.940,0:04:45.680
of how I framed it here.

0:04:45.680,0:04:48.100
But the really interesting thing about ego[br]depletion or

0:04:48.100,0:04:51.240
cognitive depletion is that what actually[br]turns out to

0:04:51.240,0:04:52.650
be the case is that there's sort of this

0:04:52.650,0:04:57.139
one, there's this one big pool of resources,[br]this

0:04:57.139,0:04:59.530
one battery, that's actually used for a lot[br]of

0:04:59.530,0:05:02.100
different things. And so there's a lot of[br]studies

0:05:02.100,0:05:05.850
about things like grocery stores, right. So[br]why is

0:05:05.850,0:05:07.840
it that when you go to a grocery store,

0:05:07.840,0:05:10.070
why do you find yourself so willing to buy

0:05:10.070,0:05:12.630
something at the impulse, at the impulse aisle?[br]Right,

0:05:12.630,0:05:13.949
at the end of the, at the end of

0:05:13.949,0:05:15.750
the grocery trip.

0:05:15.750,0:05:17.240
And the reason is that you spent all this

0:05:17.240,0:05:20.060
time in the grocery store doing not very difficult

0:05:20.060,0:05:22.620
activities, but you're making a lot of choices.[br]So

0:05:22.620,0:05:24.660
you're making choices the entire time, as[br]you're walking

0:05:24.660,0:05:27.720
around the grocery store. And eventually your[br]brain just

0:05:27.720,0:05:29.810
runs out of resources to do anything else,[br]and

0:05:29.810,0:05:32.550
it's actually drawing from the same pool of[br]resources

0:05:32.550,0:05:34.830
that will power comes from. So even though[br]choice

0:05:34.830,0:05:37.020
making and will power feel like two totally[br]different

0:05:37.020,0:05:39.050
things, when you get to the end of the

0:05:39.050,0:05:40.979
grocery trip and you've used all of your resources

0:05:40.979,0:05:44.020
on choice making, you're out of resources[br]to not

0:05:44.020,0:05:46.729
buy the candy bar at the, at the impulse,

0:05:46.729,0:05:49.240
from the impulse aisle.

0:05:49.240,0:05:50.600
And the same thing is true about a lot

0:05:50.600,0:05:52.800
of things. They've done studies where they'll[br]just take

0:05:52.800,0:05:54.410
two halves of a room, like this one, and

0:05:54.410,0:05:57.780
they'll say, you guys memorize two numbers,[br]you guys

0:05:57.780,0:06:00.570
memorize seven numbers, and then when they're[br]totally done

0:06:00.570,0:06:02.759
and you've done the memorization, they'll[br]take you into

0:06:02.759,0:06:06.139
a processing room and they'll say, OK. You[br]have,

0:06:06.139,0:06:08.770
you know, cookies, and you have some fruit.[br]And

0:06:08.770,0:06:11.710
you get to basically decide which one to eat.

0:06:11.710,0:06:13.440
And it turns out that the people who did

0:06:13.440,0:06:15.740
the not much more difficult job of memorizing[br]seven

0:06:15.740,0:06:18.720
numbers are far more likely to eat the cookies.

0:06:18.720,0:06:20.060
And the same thing is true in the other

0:06:20.060,0:06:22.430
direction. If you have people eat cookies[br]first, and

0:06:22.430,0:06:25.300
then go and do a cognitively difficult task,[br]so

0:06:25.300,0:06:27.509
a task that requires. One of the most famous

0:06:27.509,0:06:29.530
experiments has to do with an impossible task.[br]How

0:06:29.530,0:06:31.810
long can people persevere doing a task that[br]you

0:06:31.810,0:06:34.900
can literally never finish? And it turns out[br]that

0:06:34.900,0:06:38.419
people who eat the cookies first actually[br]have, spend

0:06:38.419,0:06:40.160
a lot more time trying to do the impossible

0:06:40.160,0:06:42.880
task than the people that, that were, had,[br]had

0:06:42.880,0:06:44.199
to sit in front of a tray of cookies

0:06:44.199,0:06:45.759
and were told not to eat it.

0:06:45.759,0:06:48.000
And so there's, there's all these experiments,[br]there's, by

0:06:48.000,0:06:50.180
now in 2014 there is a ton of them,

0:06:50.180,0:06:52.810
and basically what they show in aggregate[br]is that

0:06:52.810,0:06:55.330
there is this pool of resources that we have

0:06:55.330,0:06:59.270
to do our job, challenging tasks, to do cognitive

0:06:59.270,0:07:01.740
dissonance. So there's studies around, if[br]you just tell

0:07:01.740,0:07:03.139
people, you need to get up and give a

0:07:03.139,0:07:05.389
speech about something that's different than[br]what you actually

0:07:05.389,0:07:08.740
believe, people who do that actually have[br]less will

0:07:08.740,0:07:10.699
power afterwards. They have less ability to[br]do challenging

0:07:10.699,0:07:14.440
tasks. They have less general cognitive resources[br]than people

0:07:14.440,0:07:15.650
who are asked to give a speech about something

0:07:15.650,0:07:17.860
they do believe. Even if the actual act of

0:07:17.860,0:07:22.300
giving the speech is equally, is equally difficult.

0:07:22.300,0:07:24.410
And so I think what's kind of interesting[br]about

0:07:24.410,0:07:26.160
this is that, really what we want in programming

0:07:26.160,0:07:28.240
is we want to be doing, having as much

0:07:28.240,0:07:30.340
time as we can for the challenging tasks,[br]right.

0:07:30.340,0:07:32.610
We want to be spending all of our time

0:07:32.610,0:07:35.009
on challenging tasks and as little of those[br]very

0:07:35.009,0:07:38.289
scarce resources as we can on things like[br]the

0:07:38.289,0:07:40.110
will power to write your code in exactly the

0:07:40.110,0:07:44.080
right way, or making a lot of choices.

0:07:44.080,0:07:45.940
And here are some terms that you might have

0:07:45.940,0:07:49.560
heard, basically, about this paradox of choice[br]or ego

0:07:49.560,0:07:52.880
depletion or the concept of decision fatigue.[br]These are

0:07:52.880,0:07:54.910
all ways that you've heard that describe this[br]general

0:07:54.910,0:07:58.120
concept, this general concept of you just[br]have this

0:07:58.120,0:08:00.310
battery, and it runs out at some point, and

0:08:00.310,0:08:03.539
there's all these really counter-intuitive[br]things that don't seem

0:08:03.539,0:08:05.699
like they're very hard but are taking away[br]resources

0:08:05.699,0:08:08.069
that you need to work on hard problems.

0:08:08.069,0:08:12.270
So, how do we, how do we solve this?

0:08:12.270,0:08:14.970
How do we actually solve this problem? Because[br]obviously

0:08:14.970,0:08:16.520
it's the case that you, if you want to

0:08:16.520,0:08:19.300
be spending a lot of time on your challenging

0:08:19.300,0:08:21.669
problems, if you just ignore the problem of[br]will

0:08:21.669,0:08:24.669
power or the problem of, of choices, you're[br]just

0:08:24.669,0:08:26.729
gonna end up making a lot of mindless choices

0:08:26.729,0:08:29.300
all day. And, so what we need to do

0:08:29.300,0:08:31.389
is we need to find some psychological hacks[br]that

0:08:31.389,0:08:33.940
we can apply that will keep us doing the

0:08:33.940,0:08:36.979
right thing, basically all the time. Keep[br]us from

0:08:36.979,0:08:39.198
wasting cognitive resources.

0:08:39.198,0:08:42.958
And I think my favorite study about, about[br]this,

0:08:42.958,0:08:46.500
about the kinds of cognitive hacks that work[br]effectively,

0:08:46.500,0:08:51.269
is the idea of what happens to organ donation

0:08:51.269,0:08:53.940
if the organ donation requirement is opt in,[br]in

0:08:53.940,0:08:55.260
other words, you go to the DMV and there's

0:08:55.260,0:08:57.850
a form that says, yes, I agree to donate

0:08:57.850,0:08:59.250
my organs and here are the ones I agree

0:08:59.250,0:09:02.180
to donate. And when the organ donation is[br]opt

0:09:02.180,0:09:04.269
out, in other words, you have to explicitly[br]say,

0:09:04.269,0:09:06.230
I do not want, I, I do not want

0:09:06.230,0:09:08.190
my organs to be donated. And what you can

0:09:08.190,0:09:10.730
see is that, in the countries where it's opt

0:09:10.730,0:09:15.470
in, it's actually a very, very low rate and

0:09:15.470,0:09:16.870
in the countries where it's opt out, it's[br]a

0:09:16.870,0:09:20.149
surprisingly high rate. It's basically almost[br]universal.

0:09:20.149,0:09:21.810
And I, and I think to, to some degree

0:09:21.810,0:09:23.860
you might expect that this is the case. But

0:09:23.860,0:09:27.839
I think this difference is really counter-intuitive,[br]because you

0:09:27.839,0:09:30.490
would expect that if somebody, you know, goes[br]and

0:09:30.490,0:09:32.370
they're sitting at a form and the form says,

0:09:32.370,0:09:33.740
Do you want to donate your organs? And the

0:09:33.740,0:09:35.830
excuse that they're telling themselves in[br]their head for

0:09:35.830,0:09:38.339
not checking the check box is, you know, my

0:09:38.339,0:09:39.990
mom would be super angry if she found out

0:09:39.990,0:09:42.180
or my religion tells me that I shouldn't do

0:09:42.180,0:09:44.930
this or, you know, growing up, I heard people

0:09:44.930,0:09:46.980
say negative things or whatever, whatever[br]the excuse is

0:09:46.980,0:09:49.019
you tell yourself to not check the check box,

0:09:49.019,0:09:52.050
you would think that some of those people,[br]more

0:09:52.050,0:09:54.160
than, you know, zero point one percent of[br]those

0:09:54.160,0:09:56.930
people, would pick up the pen and opt out.

0:09:56.930,0:10:00.890
But the interesting thing is that, by just[br]changing

0:10:00.890,0:10:03.930
the default from yes to no, all of the

0:10:03.930,0:10:05.810
sudden, all those excuses, all those things[br]that people

0:10:05.810,0:10:08.610
tell themselves about the reasons that they[br]really shouldn't

0:10:08.610,0:10:11.170
check the check box, suddenly go away.

0:10:11.170,0:10:13.190
And what's, I think even more interesting[br]about this

0:10:13.190,0:10:16.519
is that, these choices are actually made on,[br]on

0:10:16.519,0:10:18.580
really big DMV forms. So you basically what[br]you

0:10:18.580,0:10:20.829
can see is that people have already gone through

0:10:20.829,0:10:26.649
this really complicated, somewhat trivial[br]but very choice-heavy process

0:10:26.649,0:10:28.510
of filling out this DMV form, and by the

0:10:28.510,0:10:30.529
time they get to the bottom and are asked

0:10:30.529,0:10:33.420
about organ donation, they're so cognitively[br]depleted that they

0:10:33.420,0:10:35.329
have no energy left to even really think about

0:10:35.329,0:10:37.920
it. They basically just do the defaults.

0:10:37.920,0:10:41.459
So I think, honestly, defaults are our most[br]powerful

0:10:41.459,0:10:44.899
psychological hack, our most powerful weapon[br]in trying to

0:10:44.899,0:10:46.649
deal with the pro- the fact that we have

0:10:46.649,0:10:50.230
this limited source of cognitive capacity[br]that we want

0:10:50.230,0:10:53.339
to make good use of when we're programming.[br]And

0:10:53.339,0:10:56.000
the really cool thing about defaults in general[br]is

0:10:56.000,0:10:59.310
that defaults are actually really effective[br]on both sides

0:10:59.310,0:11:01.320
of the spectrum. So some days, you get to

0:11:01.320,0:11:03.850
work, you're ready to go, you're like, in[br]an

0:11:03.850,0:11:09.760
amazing mood. Everything is perfect. Everything[br]is awesome.

0:11:09.760,0:11:12.070
And on those days, the defaults, you have[br]a

0:11:12.070,0:11:15.040
big store of cognitive resources, and the[br]defaults keep

0:11:15.040,0:11:17.600
you high up. They keep you in the charge

0:11:17.600,0:11:19.100
state of a longer time. You don't have to

0:11:19.100,0:11:21.430
make choices that would go deplete, and remember[br]the

0:11:21.430,0:11:24.160
choice-making doesn't deplete per minute.[br]It's not every minute

0:11:24.160,0:11:27.160
of choices depletes. It's every choice depletes[br]your cognitive

0:11:27.160,0:11:29.600
resources. So, having a set of defaults that[br]tells

0:11:29.600,0:11:31.470
you, here is what you're gonna do in general

0:11:31.470,0:11:33.180
and, you have to, you know, you have to

0:11:33.180,0:11:35.779
think hard to opt out. That's really great[br]when

0:11:35.779,0:11:37.760
you're in a good mood, when things are charged.

0:11:37.760,0:11:39.329
But it's actually also really great when you're[br]in

0:11:39.329,0:11:41.250
a bad moon. When you're really depleted and[br]you

0:11:41.250,0:11:42.480
still have to go to work and do your

0:11:42.480,0:11:44.410
job, because the default keeps you on the[br]straight

0:11:44.410,0:11:46.430
and narrow, right. You don't have enough energy[br]left

0:11:46.430,0:11:48.660
to really think about what you're doing, and[br]so

0:11:48.660,0:11:51.399
everybody has bad days. Everybody works on[br]teams with

0:11:51.399,0:11:57.850
developers who aren't great. Let me say it[br]a

0:11:57.850,0:11:59.370
different way. Everyone has at some point[br]worked on

0:11:59.370,0:12:01.740
a team, hopefully not. But you have junior[br]developers.

0:12:01.740,0:12:03.860
You know, you hire people who are, who are

0:12:03.860,0:12:06.170
new to whatever it is that you're doing, or

0:12:06.170,0:12:08.910
you have a bad day, or you're stressed out

0:12:08.910,0:12:10.709
because your mom gave you a call at lunch

0:12:10.709,0:12:12.529
and now you're in a bad mood.

0:12:12.529,0:12:14.139
Right, so everybody gets to a point where[br]they

0:12:14.139,0:12:21.139
have cognitively, my mother's gonna be so[br]angry now.

0:12:22.050,0:12:27.519
Let's say, an ex-girlfriend or whatever. So[br]everyone has

0:12:27.519,0:12:33.040
days where they're cognitively depleted. And[br]on those days,

0:12:33.040,0:12:35.200
defaults are also really powerful, because[br]they keep you,

0:12:35.200,0:12:37.320
when. Instead of having you be sort of in

0:12:37.320,0:12:39.240
a bad mood and you'll just sort of do

0:12:39.240,0:12:41.610
whatever, you know, you feel like, you're[br]basically kept

0:12:41.610,0:12:42.730
on the straight and narrow. You're kept on[br]the

0:12:42.730,0:12:43.269
right path.

0:12:43.269,0:12:45.829
And I think this actually helps to explain[br]why

0:12:45.829,0:12:49.529
yak-shaving doesn't feel as good as you might[br]think.

0:12:49.529,0:12:52.160
So, yak-shaving isn't the most terrible activity[br]in the

0:12:52.160,0:12:54.180
world. I think sometimes you need to yak-shave.[br]But

0:12:54.180,0:12:55.839
I think if you think about doing, like, four

0:12:55.839,0:12:58.410
hours of yak-shaving in an eight hour day,[br]pretty

0:12:58.410,0:13:00.240
much after four hours, if you, you know, let

0:13:00.240,0:13:02.680
me set up my, you know, my vagrant box,

0:13:02.680,0:13:04.959
or let me go set up my testing environment.

0:13:04.959,0:13:07.950
After like four hours of that, you're totally[br]cognitively

0:13:07.950,0:13:10.079
depleted. Doesn't matter that you only spent[br]four hours

0:13:10.079,0:13:11.950
out of an eight hour day. Basically you have

0:13:11.950,0:13:14.300
no more cognitive resources left. And I think[br]this,

0:13:14.300,0:13:17.050
this means we should be very careful about[br]yak-shaving.

0:13:17.050,0:13:19.160
Because yak-shaving may feel good and it may[br]be

0:13:19.160,0:13:20.790
important in a lot of cases, but we need

0:13:20.790,0:13:22.779
to be very honest about the fact that there

0:13:22.779,0:13:26.029
is, there's a certain amount of cognitive[br]resources that

0:13:26.029,0:13:28.420
we have and yak-shaving takes up more of them

0:13:28.420,0:13:31.050
than you would expect. And they don't leave[br]us

0:13:31.050,0:13:33.570
time after, even two hours or three hours,[br]they

0:13:33.570,0:13:35.339
don't leave us a lot of cognitive resources[br]to

0:13:35.339,0:13:37.579
actually do the task that we were yak-shaving[br]towards.

0:13:37.579,0:13:40.779
So, obviously, occasionally you know you need[br]to refactor

0:13:40.779,0:13:43.820
and, and do all kinds of these kinds of

0:13:43.820,0:13:45.839
tasks, but you should be careful about thinking[br]that

0:13:45.839,0:13:47.579
you'll get a lot done afterwards.

0:13:47.579,0:13:49.850
So, I think this is sort of the unpacking.

0:13:49.850,0:13:52.339
This is a scientific unpacking of what it[br]is

0:13:52.339,0:13:55.820
that we're talking about. But, and I think[br]everyone

0:13:55.820,0:13:57.730
in this room can nod their heads along with

0:13:57.730,0:13:59.910
what I'm saying. They can agree with what[br]I'm

0:13:59.910,0:14:03.720
saying. Makes sense. But what ends up happening[br]in

0:14:03.720,0:14:06.880
the rest of the world, and also there's usually

0:14:06.880,0:14:10.760
a devil on your shoulder, is that people find

0:14:10.760,0:14:13.410
all kinds of excuses to argue against the[br]thing

0:14:13.410,0:14:14.000
I just said.

0:14:14.000,0:14:16.610
So I just outlined sort of an unpacking of

0:14:16.610,0:14:23.610
sort of the conventional reconfiguration story,[br]and somehow, we,

0:14:23.980,0:14:26.339
as a human race, actually find a lot of

0:14:26.339,0:14:30.240
ways to, to argue against these things. And[br]one

0:14:30.240,0:14:32.420
of these, one of these ways that we find

0:14:32.420,0:14:35.490
to argue against it is to tell ourselves that

0:14:35.490,0:14:38.740
we're unique and we're special, and I'll just[br]let

0:14:38.740,0:14:44.579
David from 2008 talk about this for a second.

0:14:44.579,0:14:48.529
DHH: One point I keep coming back to, over

0:14:48.529,0:14:51.279
and over again when I talk about Ruby and

0:14:51.279,0:14:56.380
Rails, is that we confessed commonality. We[br]confessed the

0:14:56.380,0:14:59.160
fact that we're not as special as we like

0:14:59.160,0:15:02.240
to believe. We confessed that we're not the[br]only

0:15:02.240,0:15:06.709
ones trying to climb the same mountain. And[br]I

0:15:06.709,0:15:08.980
think this is a real important point because[br]it's

0:15:08.980,0:15:11.440
somewhat counter intuitive, I think, for a[br]lot of

0:15:11.440,0:15:14.089
developers to think that they're not that[br]special. I

0:15:14.089,0:15:16.519
think it's counter intuitive for humans in[br]general to

0:15:16.519,0:15:18.399
think they're not that special.

0:15:18.399,0:15:21.010
But, when they do think that they're special,[br]when

0:15:21.010,0:15:22.860
they do think that they're the only ones climbing

0:15:22.860,0:15:25.820
that mountain, they kind of get these assumptions[br]that

0:15:25.820,0:15:28.560
they need very unique and special tools that[br]will

0:15:28.560,0:15:31.500
only work for them. And I think that's a

0:15:31.500,0:15:36.620
really bad way to approach getting greater[br]productivity. Because

0:15:36.620,0:15:39.980
I think what really makes this special and[br]makes

0:15:39.980,0:15:42.930
it work is all the points where we recognize

0:15:42.930,0:15:44.740
that we're exactly the same.

0:15:44.740,0:15:47.889
Y.K.: And I think that's really the point,[br]is

0:15:47.889,0:15:51.269
that the way we gain better productivity is[br]by

0:15:51.269,0:15:54.440
pushing back against this impulse. I think,[br]we have

0:15:54.440,0:15:56.350
it in the Rails community to some degree.[br]I

0:15:56.350,0:15:59.070
think it's especially significant outside[br]of the Rails community,

0:15:59.070,0:16:01.550
where people didn't already come together[br]around the idea

0:16:01.550,0:16:04.290
that we're gonna build shared tools and shared[br]solutions.

0:16:04.290,0:16:05.600
But I think we really do have to push

0:16:05.600,0:16:07.230
back against this idea.

0:16:07.230,0:16:09.209
And I think my favorite example of this sort

0:16:09.209,0:16:15.750
of, taken to an absurdist extreme, is sort[br]of

0:16:15.750,0:16:17.920
famous interview. What is your most surprising[br]app on

0:16:17.920,0:16:20.040
the home screen? Well, it's Operator. It's[br]a custom-designed,

0:16:20.040,0:16:23.250
one-of-a-kind bespoke app I had built for[br]my assistant

0:16:23.250,0:16:25.630
and I to communicate and collaborate. Did[br]this person

0:16:25.630,0:16:29.410
need a custom bespoke one-of-a-kind application[br]to communicate with

0:16:29.410,0:16:31.639
their assistant? No. Almost certainly not.

0:16:31.639,0:16:34.160
But they decided they were so special, they[br]were

0:16:34.160,0:16:37.250
so, they themselves were so one-of-a-kind,[br]such a unique

0:16:37.250,0:16:40.639
snowflake, that they needed a special tool[br]to communicate

0:16:40.639,0:16:42.779
with their assistant. And I think this is[br]sort

0:16:42.779,0:16:44.620
of how, this is how we act. This is

0:16:44.620,0:16:46.610
how we behave. And if you look at, sort

0:16:46.610,0:16:48.790
of, how people talk about software, you see[br]things

0:16:48.790,0:16:50.889
like, this is a tool set for building the

0:16:50.889,0:16:54.529
framework most suited to your application[br]development. Your application,

0:16:54.529,0:16:58.360
your company, your industry is so special,[br]that you

0:16:58.360,0:17:00.620
can't use general-purpose tools. You need[br]to use a

0:17:00.620,0:17:03.110
tool set to build your own framework.

0:17:03.110,0:17:07.638
Or, in an ecosystem where overarching, decides-everything-for-you[br]frameworks are

0:17:07.638,0:17:09.689
commonplace, and many libraries require your[br]site to be

0:17:09.689,0:17:12.289
reorganized to suit their look, feel, and[br]default behavior

0:17:12.289,0:17:13.380
- we should continue to be a tool that

0:17:13.380,0:17:15.510
gives you the freedom to design the full experience

0:17:15.510,0:17:16.439
of your web application.

0:17:16.439,0:17:20.240
And, who could be against freedom? Right?[br]Freedom is

0:17:20.240,0:17:24.819
a really effective thing to put on the wall

0:17:24.819,0:17:26.329
to say, this is the thing that we're arguing

0:17:26.329,0:17:28.990
for. We're arguing for freedom. But this is[br]just

0:17:28.990,0:17:32.100
another way, it's just another way that you,[br]that

0:17:32.100,0:17:37.080
peoples' brains sneak in arguments against[br]that, that helped

0:17:37.080,0:17:38.970
us create the paradox of choice in the first

0:17:38.970,0:17:43.350
place, right. People say, you know, I'm special.[br]I

0:17:43.350,0:17:45.020
can't use these shared tools. I can't use[br]these

0:17:45.020,0:17:46.880
tools that were built for everybody. I need[br]to

0:17:46.880,0:17:51.309
use special tools. I need to use small libraries

0:17:51.309,0:17:54.000
that help me build my own abstractions. I[br]can't

0:17:54.000,0:17:56.470
share with the community.

0:17:56.470,0:17:59.400
And then, even if people come to the conclusion

0:17:59.400,0:18:02.530
that maybe abstractions, maybe shared solutions[br]are a good

0:18:02.530,0:18:05.350
idea, then you get another argument. The devil[br]on

0:18:05.350,0:18:07.799
your shoulder or the devil in your community.[br]It

0:18:07.799,0:18:10.490
makes another argument, which is the law of[br]leaky

0:18:10.490,0:18:12.150
abstractions. And this is not, this is sort[br]of

0:18:12.150,0:18:15.549
like the law of Demeter. It's not a suggestion,

0:18:15.549,0:18:20.110
or an observation. It's a law. The law of

0:18:20.110,0:18:21.320
leaky abstractions.

0:18:21.320,0:18:24.500
And I think any time somebody couches an observation

0:18:24.500,0:18:28.039
about software development as a law, you know[br]something

0:18:28.039,0:18:31.380
fishy is going on. You know that something's[br]not

0:18:31.380,0:18:35.460
right. Because software development isn't[br]a science. You, basically

0:18:35.460,0:18:38.090
people want you to put on your science hat,

0:18:38.090,0:18:40.710
and say, aha! It's a law! It's like the

0:18:40.710,0:18:43.850
law of gravity. I can derive some conclusions[br]from

0:18:43.850,0:18:46.480
this law. What, what, what conclusions do[br]they want

0:18:46.480,0:18:49.020
you to derive? Abstractions are bad. You should[br]never

0:18:49.020,0:18:51.520
use abstractions. You should do everything[br]yourself.

0:18:51.520,0:18:54.730
And, so this law of leaky abstractions was[br]originally

0:18:54.730,0:18:59.110
built by, or written by Joel Spolsky, and[br]Jeff

0:18:59.110,0:19:01.789
Atwood, who was his partner at Stack Overflow,[br]actually

0:19:01.789,0:19:04.720
responded, I think, kind of brilliantly to[br]this. And

0:19:04.720,0:19:07.200
he said, you know, I'd argue, that virtually[br]all

0:19:07.200,0:19:09.610
good programming abstractions are failed abstractions.[br]I don't think

0:19:09.610,0:19:11.059
I've ever used one that didn't leak like a

0:19:11.059,0:19:13.789
sieve. But I think that's an awfully architecture[br]astronaut

0:19:13.789,0:19:17.000
way of looking at things. Instead, let's ask[br]ourselves

0:19:17.000,0:19:19.700
a more programatic question: does this abstraction[br]make our

0:19:19.700,0:19:21.780
code at least a little easier to write? To

0:19:21.780,0:19:24.000
understand? To troubleshoot? Are we better[br]off with this

0:19:24.000,0:19:26.240
abstraction than we were without it?

0:19:26.240,0:19:28.410
It's out job as modern programmers not to[br]abandon

0:19:28.410,0:19:31.230
abstractions due to these deficiencies, but[br]to embrace the

0:19:31.230,0:19:33.510
useful elements of them. To adapt the working[br]parts

0:19:33.510,0:19:36.049
and construct ever so slightly less leaky[br]and broken

0:19:36.049,0:19:37.830
abstractions over time.

0:19:37.830,0:19:42.169
And I think people use this idea, these excuses,

0:19:42.169,0:19:44.830
things like the law of leaky abstractions,[br]to give

0:19:44.830,0:19:48.770
an excuse for themselves to not share solutions.[br]And

0:19:48.770,0:19:50.820
I think sort of the hilarious thing, and this

0:19:50.820,0:19:54.419
is sort of a compressed super conflated set[br]of

0:19:54.419,0:19:56.610
abstractions. Every single one of us is sitting[br]on

0:19:56.610,0:20:01.190
top of abstractions that maybe occasionally[br]leak, but really,

0:20:01.190,0:20:02.850
how many people ever have to drop down into

0:20:02.850,0:20:05.390
the X86 or the arm level? Or even the

0:20:05.390,0:20:09.590
C level? Right. People. We can build higher[br]and

0:20:09.590,0:20:12.380
higher sets of abstractions, and we can keep,[br]we

0:20:12.380,0:20:15.260
can keep building on top of these abstractions,[br]and

0:20:15.260,0:20:17.880
build, and, and allow us to sort of eliminate

0:20:17.880,0:20:20.370
more and more code that we had to write

0:20:20.370,0:20:22.490
before. That we had to write in 1960, 1970,

0:20:22.490,0:20:24.980
1980. Sort of every year is another set of

0:20:24.980,0:20:27.460
things that we have discovered as a community[br]that

0:20:27.460,0:20:29.150
we don't have to worry about, that were shared.

0:20:29.150,0:20:30.520
And I think, sort of, people look at us

0:20:30.520,0:20:31.730
and they say, oh my god it's a pile

0:20:31.730,0:20:34.059
of hacks. It's hacks on hacks on hacks on

0:20:34.059,0:20:35.970
hacks. But actually it's not. Actually what's[br]going on

0:20:35.970,0:20:39.140
here is that every single time you start off

0:20:39.140,0:20:41.679
with this sort of experimental playground,[br]people are building,

0:20:41.679,0:20:43.210
you know, at the bottom layer, people were[br]building

0:20:43.210,0:20:45.630
their own hardware. And eventually people[br]came to the

0:20:45.630,0:20:47.549
conclusion that you don't have to build your[br]own

0:20:47.549,0:20:50.909
hardware. We can standardize around things[br]like X86.

0:20:50.909,0:20:53.650
And then we standardized around it and people[br]stopped

0:20:53.650,0:20:55.980
worrying about all the craziness that was[br]underneath. And

0:20:55.980,0:20:58.580
then people said, we can build C, and if

0:20:58.580,0:21:01.450
we build C, people can stop worrying, most[br]of

0:21:01.450,0:21:03.760
the time, about what's below it. So really[br]every

0:21:03.760,0:21:05.090
one of these layers is not a pile of

0:21:05.090,0:21:07.240
hacks built on a pile of hacks. It's us,

0:21:07.240,0:21:10.130
as a group of people, as a community of

0:21:10.130,0:21:12.480
programmers, deciding that 90% of the things[br]that we're

0:21:12.480,0:21:14.919
doing, we've figured out we don't actually[br]need to,

0:21:14.919,0:21:16.090
to worry about.

0:21:16.090,0:21:19.210
And, I think, fundamentally, this is about,[br]sort of

0:21:19.210,0:21:21.580
the history of programming is that we have[br]shared

0:21:21.580,0:21:25.840
solutions. We make progress by building up[br]the stack.

0:21:25.840,0:21:27.730
By eliminating code that we didn't have to[br]write.

0:21:27.730,0:21:30.780
And Steve Jobs actually talked about this[br]in 1995.

0:21:30.780,0:21:32.940
Sort of exactly the same thing. So let me

0:21:32.940,0:21:33.900
let him talk.

0:21:33.900,0:21:37.059
STEVE JOBS: Because it's all about managing[br]complexity, right.

0:21:37.059,0:21:39.730
You're developers. You know that. It's all[br]about managing

0:21:39.730,0:21:44.100
complexity. It's, like, scaffolding, right.[br]You erect some scaffolding,

0:21:44.100,0:21:46.010
and if you keep going up and up and

0:21:46.010,0:21:49.770
up, eventually the scaffolding collapses of[br]its own weight,

0:21:49.770,0:21:53.590
right. That's what building software is. It's,[br]how much

0:21:53.590,0:21:56.770
scaffolding can you erect before the whole[br]thing collapses

0:21:56.770,0:21:57.320
of its own weight.

0:21:57.320,0:21:58.750
Doesn't matter how many people you have working[br]on

0:21:58.750,0:22:01.299
it. Doesn't matter if you're Microsoft with[br]three, four

0:22:01.299,0:22:03.710
hundred people, five hundred people on the[br]team. It

0:22:03.710,0:22:06.470
will collapse under its own weight. You've[br]read the

0:22:06.470,0:22:09.380
Mythical Man Month, right. Basic premise of[br]this is,

0:22:09.380,0:22:11.890
a software development project gets to a certain[br]size

0:22:11.890,0:22:13.890
where if you add one more person, the amount

0:22:13.890,0:22:16.190
of energy to communicate with that person[br]is actually

0:22:16.190,0:22:18.870
greater than their net contribution to the[br]project, so

0:22:18.870,0:22:19.690
it slows down.

0:22:19.690,0:22:22.309
So you have local maximum and then it comes

0:22:22.309,0:22:25.280
down. We all know that about software. It's[br]about

0:22:25.280,0:22:29.900
managing complexity. These tools allow you[br]to not have

0:22:29.900,0:22:32.710
to worry about ninety percent of the stuff[br]you

0:22:32.710,0:22:35.700
worry about, so that you can erect your five

0:22:35.700,0:22:39.799
stories of scaffolding, but starting at story[br]number twenty-three

0:22:39.799,0:22:43.179
instead of starting at story number six. You[br]get

0:22:43.179,0:22:45.100
a lot higher.

0:22:45.100,0:22:47.510
Y.K.: And I think that's fundamentally what[br]we do

0:22:47.510,0:22:49.780
as software people. For all of the complaints[br]that

0:22:49.780,0:22:53.169
people make about, you know, oh my god, every

0:22:53.169,0:22:57.880
abstraction leaks. All we've ever done, even[br]in, even

0:22:57.880,0:23:00.299
as far back as, you know, in the 60s,

0:23:00.299,0:23:03.539
but even in 1995, Steve Jobs was already talking

0:23:03.539,0:23:05.830
about this idea that we can build higher by

0:23:05.830,0:23:08.400
building shared solutions. And I'm gonna let[br]him speak

0:23:08.400,0:23:12.350
one more time, because I think, really, it's[br]really

0:23:12.350,0:23:14.820
fascinating how much this idea of how you[br]get

0:23:14.820,0:23:18.640
better programmer productivity hasn't really[br]changed, fundamentally, since that

0:23:18.640,0:23:19.039
time.

0:23:19.039,0:23:22.210
STEVE JOBS: But, on top of that, we're gonna

0:23:22.210,0:23:29.210
put something called open step. And open step[br]lets

0:23:34.169,0:23:38.400
you start developing your apps on the twentieth[br]floor.

0:23:38.400,0:23:40.429
And the kinds of apps you can deliver are

0:23:40.429,0:23:44.250
phenomenal. But there's another hidden advantage.

0:23:44.250,0:23:47.760
Most of the great break through, the page[br]makers,

0:23:47.760,0:23:52.200
the illustrators, et cetera, the directors,[br]come from smaller

0:23:52.200,0:23:54.570
software companies. That's been said a few[br]times today.

0:23:54.570,0:23:57.000
They don't come from the large software companies.[br]They

0:23:57.000,0:23:59.210
come from the smaller ones. And one of the

0:23:59.210,0:24:03.370
greatest things is that using this new technology,[br]two

0:24:03.370,0:24:06.539
people or three people in a garage can build

0:24:06.539,0:24:09.289
an app and get it from concept to market

0:24:09.289,0:24:11.590
in six to nine months, that is every bit

0:24:11.590,0:24:15.750
as feature-rich, every bit as reliable, and[br]every bit

0:24:15.750,0:24:18.289
as exciting as a giant software company can[br]do

0:24:18.289,0:24:20.990
with a hundred fifty person team.

0:24:20.990,0:24:22.039
It's phenomenal.

0:24:22.039,0:24:26.140
Y.K.: So, I think what's kind of cool about

0:24:26.140,0:24:31.640
this is that, this idea that we can take

0:24:31.640,0:24:35.049
shared problems that everyone has, shared[br]problems that a

0:24:35.049,0:24:37.779
community of people have, solving the same[br]problem, and

0:24:37.779,0:24:40.260
we can build up shared solutions. This is[br]not

0:24:40.260,0:24:43.820
new. It's not, it shouldn't be controversial.[br]It's kind

0:24:43.820,0:24:47.100
of fundamental to what we do as software developers.

0:24:47.100,0:24:50.070
And yet, if someone isn't up here telling[br]you

0:24:50.070,0:24:52.409
this, it's so easy to forget. There are so

0:24:52.409,0:24:55.110
many excuses that people tell themselves.

0:24:55.110,0:24:56.770
Sort of what happens in reality is you have

0:24:56.770,0:24:58.760
this bulk of shared solutions, you have an[br]area

0:24:58.760,0:25:01.490
of experimentation - sort of the wild west[br]-

0:25:01.490,0:25:03.750
and you let the area of experimentation fold[br]back

0:25:03.750,0:25:05.650
into shared solutions. This is sort of how[br]Rails

0:25:05.650,0:25:08.020
works, right. So you build higher and higher[br]and

0:25:08.020,0:25:10.890
higher stacks. You get to a point where you,

0:25:10.890,0:25:12.590
you know, you could build something like Devise[br]in

0:25:12.590,0:25:15.070
the Rails community, because there's so much[br]of what

0:25:15.070,0:25:18.929
underpins Devise, you know, everybody uses[br]the same set

0:25:18.929,0:25:22.309
of model abstractions, everyone has similar[br]ways of talking

0:25:22.309,0:25:25.240
about users, right. So you can build an abstraction

0:25:25.240,0:25:27.059
on top of that because everyone has sort of

0:25:27.059,0:25:28.870
built up this shared understanding of what[br]it is

0:25:28.870,0:25:30.059
that we're doing.

0:25:30.059,0:25:33.169
And, it's so easy to let yourself be confused

0:25:33.169,0:25:35.630
by the fact that the area of experimentation[br]is

0:25:35.630,0:25:38.400
the wild west, and forget that that area of

0:25:38.400,0:25:41.820
experimentation is sitting on top of huge,[br]a huge

0:25:41.820,0:25:43.799
stack of abstractions. And this is sort of,[br]I

0:25:43.799,0:25:45.909
think, to me, the answer to why the node

0:25:45.909,0:25:49.779
community seems, they're sitting on top of[br]maybe, you

0:25:49.779,0:25:53.340
know, the most advanced dynamic language git[br]in the

0:25:53.340,0:25:57.480
world, on top of all kinds of abstractions.[br]And

0:25:57.480,0:25:58.630
they sit on top and they say, oh my

0:25:58.630,0:26:00.919
god, we need to build a lot of tiny

0:26:00.919,0:26:02.750
modules, because if we don't build tiny modules,[br]this,

0:26:02.750,0:26:04.289
the abstraction's gonna kill us.

0:26:04.289,0:26:06.830
But, for me, this has always been a paradox.

0:26:06.830,0:26:08.650
You're sitting on top of a stack of abstractions

0:26:08.650,0:26:10.850
that's far higher than anything that you're[br]claiming to

0:26:10.850,0:26:12.350
be afraid of. So, why are you so afraid?

0:26:12.350,0:26:13.900
And I think it's because of this area of

0:26:13.900,0:26:16.600
experimentation, right. When you're in an[br]area of experimentation,

0:26:16.600,0:26:18.640
of course abstractions are gonna leak. You're[br]still figuring

0:26:18.640,0:26:20.650
out what it is that you're doing.

0:26:20.650,0:26:22.490
But the goal of a good community that's gonna

0:26:22.490,0:26:25.159
help people be more productive is to eventually[br]notice

0:26:25.159,0:26:28.600
that the area of experimentation is over.[br]And move

0:26:28.600,0:26:31.600
into a conventional system where you can say,[br]we

0:26:31.600,0:26:33.059
don't need to argue about this anymore. It[br]was

0:26:33.059,0:26:34.970
a worthy thing for us to discuss when we

0:26:34.970,0:26:37.179
were thinking about the problem, but we can[br]take

0:26:37.179,0:26:38.820
that and we can roll it in, into our

0:26:38.820,0:26:40.289
set of shared defaults, and we can climb up

0:26:40.289,0:26:41.070
the ladder, right.

0:26:41.070,0:26:42.799
And this is what, this is what Steve was

0:26:42.799,0:26:46.000
saying. He was saying, you know, instead of[br]having

0:26:46.000,0:26:48.450
everybody start from some, some floor, sort[br]of this

0:26:48.450,0:26:52.700
is how iOS programming works today, right.[br]Ironically. Is

0:26:52.700,0:26:55.230
everyone starts from the same base. There[br]is not

0:26:55.230,0:26:57.390
a lot of shared programming. A lot of shared

0:26:57.390,0:27:01.190
solutions. And I think, fundamentally, open[br]source has been

0:27:01.190,0:27:04.640
something that has really kick started this[br]idea of

0:27:04.640,0:27:06.830
experimentation merging through the shared[br]solutions.

0:27:06.830,0:27:09.350
Because trying to essentially plan it the[br]way big

0:27:09.350,0:27:11.590
companies like Apple or Microsoft do it, is[br]just

0:27:11.590,0:27:14.120
not gonna get the job done across the board.

0:27:14.120,0:27:16.900
It'll, it'll solve some problems, but getting[br]the open

0:27:16.900,0:27:19.059
source communities, the power of the open[br]source community,

0:27:19.059,0:27:21.340
means that you can have all these little verticals,

0:27:21.340,0:27:23.610
all these little areas where people are trying[br]to

0:27:23.610,0:27:27.159
build higher abstractions for shared communities.

0:27:27.159,0:27:30.799
And interestingly, it's not enough to make[br]these abstractions

0:27:30.799,0:27:33.409
cheap. I think when you think about how people

0:27:33.409,0:27:35.750
actually go and they build on top of these

0:27:35.750,0:27:38.340
stacks, it's not enough, if every layer in[br]the

0:27:38.340,0:27:41.169
abstraction, in fact, if x86 and then C and,

0:27:41.169,0:27:42.720
you know, Linux, and Posits. If every one[br]of

0:27:42.720,0:27:44.770
those things cost a little, by the time you

0:27:44.770,0:27:46.679
actually got to build software, you would[br]be so

0:27:46.679,0:27:48.649
overwhelmed with the weight of the abstraction[br]that you

0:27:48.649,0:27:49.720
would never be able to do anything.

0:27:49.720,0:27:53.270
So, it's really fundamental that the abstractions[br]that we

0:27:53.270,0:27:56.029
build eventually get to the point where they're[br]basically

0:27:56.029,0:27:58.000
free. Where they have no cognitive capacity.[br]So that

0:27:58.000,0:27:59.860
we can keep building higher and higher and[br]higher,

0:27:59.860,0:28:03.020
right. And the Rails philosophy is basically,[br]how do

0:28:03.020,0:28:04.210
you do that? How do you, how do, how

0:28:04.210,0:28:05.299
do you say, you know, we're gonna experiment[br]for

0:28:05.299,0:28:07.799
a little bit, but eventually we're gonna work[br]really

0:28:07.799,0:28:10.390
hard, we're gonna push really hard at making[br]the

0:28:10.390,0:28:12.240
cost of that thing that everyone was just[br]experimenting

0:28:12.240,0:28:14.179
with a minute, a little, a minute ago free,

0:28:14.179,0:28:15.649
so that we can go build another level up

0:28:15.649,0:28:16.960
and another level up.

0:28:16.960,0:28:19.830
And, I have a few sort of closing points

0:28:19.830,0:28:23.450
to make about the ecosystem. So, first of[br]all,

0:28:23.450,0:28:24.730
Rails is not the only way that we have

0:28:24.730,0:28:28.159
to share. I think I was pretty sad when

0:28:28.159,0:28:31.529
the queue abstraction didn't end up in Rails,[br]but

0:28:31.529,0:28:33.850
I kind of am sad that we didn't get

0:28:33.850,0:28:35.870
to see sort of what you can build up

0:28:35.870,0:28:38.490
on top of the queue abstraction, there's really[br]no

0:28:38.490,0:28:41.029
reason that all the queue guys didn't get[br]together

0:28:41.029,0:28:44.360
and say, you know, we're gonna build some[br]abstraction

0:28:44.360,0:28:45.799
on top of that. And once you build the

0:28:45.799,0:28:47.490
abstraction on top of that, then you can see

0:28:47.490,0:28:49.270
how high you can go, right.

0:28:49.270,0:28:50.570
And a sort of similar thing happened in the

0:28:50.570,0:28:52.360
JavaScript community. In the JavaScript community[br]there were a

0:28:52.360,0:28:57.600
lot of different promise implementations,[br]and what happened over

0:28:57.600,0:28:59.289
time is that people realized that not having[br]a

0:28:59.289,0:29:01.190
standard way to talk about this was actually[br]making

0:29:01.190,0:29:02.940
it hard to build up.

0:29:02.940,0:29:05.270
So we said, let's actually get together and[br]let's

0:29:05.270,0:29:06.740
decide that we're gonna have a standard way[br]of

0:29:06.740,0:29:09.760
talking about that. We'll call it PromisesA+.[br]And now

0:29:09.760,0:29:12.450
Promises are in the DOM. And now, you know,

0:29:12.450,0:29:14.789
we can build up another level and make asynchronous

0:29:14.789,0:29:16.880
things look synchronous. And then we can build[br]up

0:29:16.880,0:29:19.029
another level, and we can put that idea into

0:29:19.029,0:29:20.159
the language.

0:29:20.159,0:29:22.390
And, you know, I don't know where we're gonna

0:29:22.390,0:29:24.210
go from there. But we can start building higher

0:29:24.210,0:29:26.570
and higher abstractions. But it requires taking[br]the first

0:29:26.570,0:29:30.350
step. So I, I guess what I'm saying is,

0:29:30.350,0:29:32.279
getting something into Rails core is not the[br]only

0:29:32.279,0:29:34.309
way that you can build these abstractions.[br]It, it

0:29:34.309,0:29:36.830
requires some discipline to actually get to[br]the point

0:29:36.830,0:29:38.950
where we're agreeing on something, but I think[br]if

0:29:38.950,0:29:41.220
you find that there is some topic, like, for

0:29:41.220,0:29:45.929
example, jobs or, you know, queuing or jobs,[br]and

0:29:45.929,0:29:47.450
everybody does them or a lot of people do

0:29:47.450,0:29:48.620
them but we don't have a good way of

0:29:48.620,0:29:51.039
building on top of them, that's a good opportunity

0:29:51.039,0:29:52.620
for someone to go and say, I'm gonna do

0:29:52.620,0:29:54.570
the hard work to say, let's create a shared

0:29:54.570,0:29:55.960
idea of what it is that we're doing.

0:29:55.960,0:29:58.130
And sometimes it's via an inter-op player[br]and sometimes

0:29:58.130,0:30:00.809
it's via standardizing around one solution.

0:30:00.809,0:30:04.059
And, another part of this is, when I started

0:30:04.059,0:30:06.529
working on Ember in the JavaScript community,[br]I thought

0:30:06.529,0:30:08.659
a lot of these ideas were obvious. I thought

0:30:08.659,0:30:10.840
it was gonna be, you know, a slam dunk.

0:30:10.840,0:30:12.730
Everybody should agree that building a shared[br]set of

0:30:12.730,0:30:15.690
solutions is the right thing. And what I found

0:30:15.690,0:30:20.059
was that, what I found instead is how powerful

0:30:20.059,0:30:23.570
the unique snowflake bias is, and how powerful[br]the

0:30:23.570,0:30:27.220
leaky abstraction fallacy can be in communities[br]that don't

0:30:27.220,0:30:28.750
place a high value on shared solutions.

0:30:28.750,0:30:31.130
So, if you don't see the power of shared

0:30:31.130,0:30:33.809
solutions, if you're not familiar with the[br]idea, with

0:30:33.809,0:30:36.039
the wins, it's really easy to pull out those

0:30:36.039,0:30:38.429
olds canards, the I am a unique snow flake,

0:30:38.429,0:30:41.390
I can't use a tool like Ember, because I

0:30:41.390,0:30:44.250
have special needs. I need to use a toolkit

0:30:44.250,0:30:46.390
that lets me build my own framework, because[br]my

0:30:46.390,0:30:47.149
needs are oh-so-special.

0:30:47.149,0:30:51.080
Or, you know, you know, I looked at Ember

0:30:51.080,0:30:52.919
when it was new, and Ember leaked all over

0:30:52.919,0:30:54.779
the place. So the law of leaky abstractions[br]means

0:30:54.779,0:30:57.210
you can't build in JavaScript a shared solution.[br]But,

0:30:57.210,0:30:58.450
of course these things are not true. And I

0:30:58.450,0:31:01.270
think, what I want to say is, I think

0:31:01.270,0:31:03.860
Rails, ten years on, has basically proved[br]that these

0:31:03.860,0:31:06.679
things are not true.

0:31:06.679,0:31:08.840
Before Rails, people spent a lot of time working

0:31:08.840,0:31:11.330
on their own bespoke solutions, convinced[br]that their problem

0:31:11.330,0:31:14.590
was just too special for shared solutions.[br]An when

0:31:14.590,0:31:16.970
Rails came out, they looked at the very idea

0:31:16.970,0:31:20.279
of convention over configuration as a joke.[br]And then,

0:31:20.279,0:31:22.970
one day, Rails developers started beating[br]the pants off

0:31:22.970,0:31:27.200
those people. And I think, in closing, if[br]you

0:31:27.200,0:31:29.840
find yourself in an ecosystem where developers[br]still start

0:31:29.840,0:31:32.580
from floor one every time, learn the lessons[br]of

0:31:32.580,0:31:34.019
Rails.

0:31:34.019,0:31:37.630
Everybody should band together, push back,[br]both in your

0:31:37.630,0:31:40.370
own brain and on other people, on the excuses

0:31:40.370,0:31:42.539
that drive us apart instead of the things[br]that

0:31:42.539,0:31:46.580
bind us together. The legacy of Rails isn't[br]MVC

0:31:46.580,0:31:49.769
or even Ruby. It's powerful ten years of evidence

0:31:49.769,0:31:52.100
that by sticking to our guns, we can build

0:31:52.100,0:31:54.220
far higher than anyone ever imagined.

0:31:54.220,0:31:56.860
Thank you very much.