[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Introductory Music]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Welcome everybody.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before I go into my talk about the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,patterns of Basecamp's Application Architecture
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A little announcement
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about an hour and twenty minutes ago
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we released release candidate one.\N[Audience applause and cheers]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As well as branched for rails/4-0-stable.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we're really close to having 4-0 done\Nand shipped.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it would be awesome if everybody who's here
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who is going to work on Rails code during
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the next four days could try it out.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because that's the best way for us to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,figure out what's still missing, or bugs, or\Nwhatever else, have you.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We sort of have, almost, this pattern of \Nputting out betas and release candidates
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then we ship the final version and\Nfifty tickets come in with obvious defaults
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or things that are broken.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So it'd be great if 4-0 could come out \Nand for the first week or two at least
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we wouldn't have to ship an update.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, if you guys can help us do that\Nthat'd be amazing.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, the story of Rails is in many\Nways intertwined with the story of Basecamp.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a screenshot of the very first \Nversion of Basecamp we released in 2004.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started working on Basecamp in 2003, before\NI had any aspirations of working on Rails.\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Before I had any ideas that was I going\Nto work on was going to turn into a framework.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, the whole approach with Basecamp\Nand with the creation of Rails was that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was interested in an application.\NI was interested in building something.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fact that I had to build my own tools\Nto get there was sort of secondary.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's certainly wasn't the primary objective.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that led to, in some ways unique\Nstyle of working, I think.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we've really embraced as a community,\Nand in Rails core.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That, frameworks are not inventions,\Nthey're extractions.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't sit down and try to come up with\Nfeatures that we could need, or would want.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We build applications, things that actually\Nhave to run in the real world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Things that actually have to matter to somebody.\NNot example code.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And from there we see, what are the pieces\Nthat we keep using over and over again?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For me, that's why Basecamp is so important.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because -- just about, for sure, every \Nsingle good feature I've put into Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have come from Basecamp, or Basecamp\Nderivative.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A few bad features came exactly\Nwhen I thought I could invent good frameworks.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It -- it never really worked.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The question we're asking ourselves is not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what would someone, somewhere, might \Nwant to do with Rails?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because that sort of speculative development\Nstyle -- we've had to work
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've had to work with a lot of tools\Nthat were built like that.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Teams assembled just to make tools, with\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,influences of listening to people in various\Nplaces.\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the core motive to just build tools.\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that is what I was running away from\Nin many ways as it came to Rails.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I didn't want something built by somebody
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whose sole occupation was just to build \Ntools for me.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because those tools tended to never really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to match the expectations I had for real-world\Ndevelopment.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what we do instead is say:\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not going to care about anybody else right now.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm just going to focus on building Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the perfect framework for building Basecamp.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's my mental model.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The side effect is that Basecamp, of course,\Nis not that special.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most of the things it does is same kind of things
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you want to do in a lot of different applications.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, because we attack the problems
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from this sort of concrete approach
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we get to extract something that just feels right.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Something that feels like somebody's actually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used it in anger.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, I've sworn and cursed my fair amount at Rails at certain times.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I've certainly used it in anger, and have changed things in anger.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I find that that's really a lot of where a lot of the magic happens.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I'm so fucking annoyed that something
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,takes four lines of code when it really should
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just take one, that's when good stuff happens.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it happens in sort of a different way
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than that example code driven development style
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you often run into when people do this for full-time living.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because it's very easy to make pretty examples.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have lots of this in Rails where -- for example
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the standard scaffold for a long time
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it looked like it was not very DRY.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It had a lot of duplication, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People would often come to Rails and they would say, as the first thing:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Well this code you're generating it's verbose, I could optimize it in all these ways"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A few people have tried, with various gems.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what you find is, yes, you can make example code
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really pretty by making a certain set of choices.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But those same set of choices are usually the ones
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that makes it horrible for actual real web development.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, 2003, 2013, I've been working on Ruby on Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Basecamp for 10 years now.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's about a third of my life.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I don't think it's any stretch to say
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is my life's work, at least up until this point.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, it's funny, because in some ways, it feels familiar.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I looked at Rails code today, it looks and feels and smells
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very much like the Rails code I wrote ten years ago.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course it changed in a myriad of different ways
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's much, much better now.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the kernals and the principles are very
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much still the same.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's interesting to reflect on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when you compare it to the things that changed.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 2003, this was a state of the art phone.\N[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Seriously. Flip phones was really back then.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's so funny because that seems so far away, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, flip phones? Seems like another era.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which it is in many ways
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because many parts of technology move very fast.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's interesting that we're here today and we're still
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,working with and discussing and debating and improving a framework
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is from the time of flip phones.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, that's sort of like the form factor of actually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of people interfacing with our applications today go through phones.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we look at other parts of technology
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just sort of the hardware we were on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I looked up these prices yesterday
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, it's like, half a gigabyte costs $50.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now you can just 16 times as much RAM for almost half the price.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's more than an order of magnitude change.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is just, it's one of those things that's also
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,interesting in terms of what does that change
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in how we approach things?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Often times, people will almost lock their concept
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what hardware costs and how it runs to the time
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they entered programming.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If something was scarce, and expensive
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the time they got into programming they'll
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,think that's how it's going to be forever.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which, of course, this shows you can get
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,8 gigabytes for $29. How much RAM do you use?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Probably it doesn't matter as much as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of other things. Which is funny
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to me because that's always been --
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Matz, back in 1993, 20 years ago, 20 years ago Matz started working on Ruby.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had to care far -- I should've actually looked up
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what RAM cost back in 1993.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm sure it was fucking expensive. \N[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet, he sort of had the foresight to think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well, I don't know if he had the foresight,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it turned out, that the thoughts
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he was thinking about, how we should
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make programming languages, and development environments,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, I can make something now that -- ok, it's going to take more memory,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's going to be slower, and it's not going to matter
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because those things are going to improve
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,drastically over time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's not going to improve is programming brains.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're pretty much as mush as they were back in 1993.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we need to optimize for that.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, that's sort of the hardware side, that that moves really fast.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ok, not that -- we know that, Moore's Law, and all, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Also funny to look at the things from 2003.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Java was actually a real thing that people non-ironically wrote. \N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughter and Applause]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was actually -- when Rails first came out,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was talking to a lot of Java programmers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they were serious.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's just funny to think back about this sort of battle, or whatever
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we had in the beginning. And this was the relevant foe.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was who were trying to sort of say, there's a better way to implement
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of the good ideas that you have.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because that was the second funny thing of course.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because Rails is from 2003, and the bulk of the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking of how to structure, and create nicely
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,factored web applications, and those
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,types of applications came from the Java world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just that they were trapped inside that beast
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we had to liberate it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, there are still people programming Java.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, the JVM lives on and it seems like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that has a long and prosperous future.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And people are putting it to much better use
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than the Java language itself.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The other thing, struts, that was actually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a serious framework at that time that we were
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of trying to convince people why this was better
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why XML situps and so on, were not something you should to do.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's really interesting to think about all of these things
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that have changed, and how much the world
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of technology has changed in the 10 years Rails has been around.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've been trying to reflect on why that is.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why are we still here?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why didn't Rails go the way of Struts?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Why wasn't it just a footnote in sort of a progression of things?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where were all these other things that were supposed
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to come afterwards. I certainly never
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thought, when I started working on Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I'd be here 10 years later and talking to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1,500 people at a sold-out conference.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a pretty measureable success.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's surprising I'd say in technology.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just like the flip phone is not here anymore
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Struts, thankfully is neither.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You should've thought that Rails would've gone away, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think the stuff I talked about last time -- or last year
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that pioneering spirit, I think is what makes the Ruby community
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Rails community unique.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We are willing to continue west.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't just stop when we find a comfortable resting place.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a lot of other communities that value
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stability far higher than we do.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's not to say that stability is bad, it's just
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a trade-off. If you look at say,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Python guys, and how long they've taken
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to get on Python 3, they're not there yet, by the way.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're still going, and it's been years, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How long did it take the Ruby community to move
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from 1.8 to 1.9 to 2.0? [Snap, snap, snap]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it wasn't because it was painless.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How long did it take the Rails community to move
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from Rails 1, to 2, to 3, to now 4?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Again, it wasn't painless.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anytime you want to make progress like this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's going to hurt.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we as a community are willing to take that hurt.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That makes the community unique.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're willing to sacrifice for progress.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think what's interesting about that, the pioneering spirit,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we're willing to continue west.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We don't just stop halfway and say,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Ah, fuck it, Kansas is good enough"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A lot of people just -- they stop in Kansas.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like that's just like, things are fine
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've got my cows and the sun comes up in the morning, great.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, although, some Rails people have stopped in Kansas.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are still a few people still running.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the half-life of Rails where we are now.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It came out in 2009, that's 4 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, if you're still in Kansas, keep
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going west. California awaits you.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The west coast awaits you, Portland I should say actually, my bad.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've continued west. We've gotten closer and closer
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to this sort of promise of the west coast.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think as we've gotten closer and closer to that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's taken years and years, because again
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's a painful journey.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a perfectly legit thing to say,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm just not interested in any more progress, we're stopping in Kansas.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I will go on, and I will do Rails 2.3 for the next 4 years.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A lot of people did and it wasn't like they were necessarily
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,miserable. I mean people do lead good lives in Kansas.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, I think that there is something more important here
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to keep on pressing on, and not just because
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we keep our own interests and this is still interesting to go to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if we had just stopped as a community and said
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rails 2.3, that's our final resting place.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ruby 1.8, what did we end up at? Ruby 1.8.9? 1.8.8? Whatever it was.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's the final resting place, that's where we're gonna stop, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's just where we are going to park our ambition and say, that's good enough.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't think we would be here because then these things would just be tools.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nothing wrong with just being a tool.\N[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's just something more inspiring about pressing on and going further.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,About this whole notion of pressing on and going further,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Joel Spolsky, in 2001, had this great essay: "Good Software Takes Ten Years, Get Used To It"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the time I read that, it was funny, I read that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was like "what a fucking jackass"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can make something in fucking six months
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's going to blow the doors off whatever you've been
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,working on for ten years.\N
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I think he actually had the long end of something.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can build something that's good for you in six months
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it could be "good software".
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you want to build something that has the kind of impact
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on community, on the programming community,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the world, for lack, for less sort of grandious vision.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It does take a long time. We've slowly but surely built this up over time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That goes both for the work that I've put into Basecamp
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the work that I've put into Rails.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These things compound slowly over time if you keep investing in them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can see the sort of progression of investment that we've had with Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the people who've been flowing into it on this chart.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,New contributors with their first commit to Rails.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,2004, first time I opened the code base and accept patches and let other people commit to it,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a few people, 40 people I think had a patch go into Rails in 2004.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The very next year, big boost, 280 people or whatever.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then we sort of had like, I don't want to call it flat face
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because this is all new people coming into the community
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and starting to add something. But, for a long time
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we had sort of a steady rate of new people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,joining the community. And then something interesting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,happens. In 2009 there's a small dip.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Everybody thinks the world is going to end and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone is getting fired and alright, I understand
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then after that, what happens?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a massive jump.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is actually funny. So in 2009, our Kansas,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so there's a baseline there, alright? We keep pushing.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And people respond. A lot of people are interested
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in pushing on with us, interested in joining the caravan and continuing on.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is really just sort of interesting to see just
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of the phase we can go through.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By 2009 I've been working on Rails for 6 years.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we've had this steady inflow and then
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of a sudden lots of people get interested
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in getting involved, awesome.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at the same chart, just compounding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of the committers, you can see it's more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a steady climb, but the same pattern is there,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from 2009 and onwards, lots of new people got involved
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we kept pressing through.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We kept pressing through the comfortable phase.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even though, the funny thing is, when you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do that you're sort of -- we have this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,saying with Basecamp were you shouldn't be afraid to let customers go.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes customers are going to outgrow you.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're going to think, well you no longer represent what they need in a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,project management application, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A natural reaction to a lot of people, or for a lot of people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to look, "Shit, we can't let that happen, no customer can leave, lock the doors"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"We will do whatever we can to take them happy"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We had that moment in 2009, where we could've said, let's just lock the doors.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's just improve things for people who are already here.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Big enough community, we're comfortable,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we could be self-sustaining for a long time, that could be fine.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We instead said nope, we're going to keep the doors open.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What that's going to mean is that there are going to be some people who are unhappy.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've heard people say Rails 2.3 is the best version of Rails ever made.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is, it's sort of one of those funny nostalgic things of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you just sort of lock your timezone, like the 80's that's when music peaked.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience Laughs]
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just a funny phenomenon, and it's real, and I think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's where a lot of technology circles an ecosystem, they stop.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then they just stay there for the rest of life.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, we pushed on.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here are the stats for the last 12 months running.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,More than 1000 people were part of more than 8000 commits
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to rails/rails GitHub repo. That is fucking amazing.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,1000 people working, and this is just the people who get commits in.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have so many more people doing all sorts of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other stuff around the codebase.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is just the people who got a commit into rails/rails itself.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is really and truly astounding.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think that that shows and validates
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the approach, the uncomfortable approach that we have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to keep pushing and to keep getting better
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even if it will ruffle the feathers of the people we already have.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The customers, the developers, who are already using Rails
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are somewhat uncomfortable with whatever new direction we have.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's also a funny match to Roger's Innovation Adoption Curve Idea.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is sort of an analysis describing how products are adopted.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So obviously, from the beginning we had a lot of innovators.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People who would use Rails even though there were
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of things that were broken or didn't do whatever in the beginning.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Small slice of the overall market of developers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay, we've got the early adopters.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that's sort of our first crest.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you sort of hit this point where you have to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make the jump from early adoptors to the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,early minority. I think that's exactly what that point in 2009 shows us.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We did make that jump. We are now on sort of the next ride up.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is, which is pretty cool.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I think it's also interesting for me in -- the original reason
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I got into open source, the original reason
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to release Rails was two-fold,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,first, I wanted to give back. I had been
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,using Ruby, I had been using Linux,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had been using MySQL, I had been using Apache
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd been using all these open source projects
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so, when I had something myself to share
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I felt like, dude you're a dick if you don't release
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something like this that other people could find value in,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when you've used all of their stuff.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there's that. Don't be a dick.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The second part is, I'm having a lot of fun
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,doing this stuff. Ruby is really a great programming language
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Rails enables me to use Ruby to build Basecamp.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's going to be a lot of other people out there
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who could benefit from Ruby so let's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get as much programming joy out there in the world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that's why this stuff is interesting because
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we've having a bigger impact, we're getting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more people involved with enjoying their work.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And not being stuck in Struts, or whatever painful torture instruments of the time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, so I think that's all great.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's great to see there are more people getting involved.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you're also sitting there and have to stop
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and say okay, what are we actually doing here?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What is the purpose? Why are we still working on this?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What is the improvement path? Who are we?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who do we want to be?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, I think a while back, decided we want
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to have a big tent. There should be room
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a lot of different people in the Rails community.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Jugglers, musicians, clowns and elephants all invited, come on.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we pulled some things in, we did
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with Rails 3, we had a influx of good new ideas
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from, at the time, a competing framework
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called merb, which was sort of a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,good reflection of okay, it can be a big tent.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can have room for a lot of people in here
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who might not agree on everything,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they might not all want to build Basecamp
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we have a general principle, a general purpose
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that this is where we're going, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we agree on these things. And once we
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sit down and actually work on code together
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we realize we share more opinions than we don't.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, even so, even if you have a big tent
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have room for jugglers, and elephants and so forth
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're having fun, you're not a ferris wheel.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's got to be something you're not.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have to sort of define it in some sort of opposition
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's limits to what this is, because if
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you try to be everything to everyone all the time
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're nothing to nobody none of the time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Second, the title of this talk is "Patterns of Basecamp's Application Architecture"
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The whole idea of patterns is that you see a problem
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there's a solution, but there's a third element,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's a context. There's a context in which
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that problem arises. Because you can encounter
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same problem in two different contexts
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're going to want two different solutions to that.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, what is the context? What is the context of Rails?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of the work that I'm doing on Basecamp?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For me, that context is Dynamic hypertext documents.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What does that mean?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It means that this is sort of what I'm trying to produce.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's funny because when you see HTML it looks like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's such a good, there are books like Learn HTML in 4 Days, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems like such a low-level thing, it seems like such a simple thing,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like sort of beneath us, kind of thing, we are "serious programmers" who do "serious work",
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, all we're doing is just generating HTML, that's -- I mean, c'mon, that's for HTML monkeys, right?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, I need something more grand. Well, to me
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the grandness is in embracing the simplicity.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is embracing what the web is, and not just what
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the web and HTML as the delivery mechanism,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of the web and HTML as sort of a lot of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,side effects that are neat, in term of software deployment and development,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,don't have to install software, you just get it from one place.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You could deliver a lot of different kinds of software where
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you just use HTML as a delivery mechanism.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, when I've been revisiting and going back through the Basecamp code base
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and especially the work I've done with the new verison of Basecamp.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realize that it's deeper than that, that this is not just a delivery mechanism.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That the actual structure of HTML, the approach to the context of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,software development as a document is profound.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That profound approach is not something we should try to escape.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's something we should try to embrace.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, you can think about a lot of different applications that are being delivered on the web
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on sort of on a contiuum. On the one end
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have something that is basically purely document based
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and on the other hand you could have something that's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost like a GUI using HTML as a delivery mechanism
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you certainly wouldn't describe it as a document.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think if you look at that sort of continuum from document to GUI and nothing falls perfectly at either hand.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps these two, I mean Wikipedia is just a collection of documents.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a pretty good to, I think, my vision at least of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I'm interested in, the kinds of applications
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm interested in, and thus, the kinds of tools
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm interested in building. I want to build tools
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a document based web. That approach to software development is quite
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,different from all sorts of other approaches that went before.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at software from before the web
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it looks different. I've been struggling to find a word to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,describe that style of applications, GUI is the best
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can come up with, even though of course the web is a GUI, too.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You sort of know what I mean.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe it's easier if you look at an example.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at Google maps for example, that doesn't feel
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like that's a document. That feels like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is using HTML as a delivery mechanism for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the application that it provides. It doesn't mean
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's not a great application. It's a great application.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It just means that what we're trying to do is optimize for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a version and vision for web applications that is more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,document based, this is not the primary thing
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we should optimize for. So, if you're trying to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,write the next Google Maps, maybe Rails, at least as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a whole package, as a full-stack framework isn't
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the natural fit. You can pick parts out and you can have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a good HTTP processor and you can do all sorts of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other things that's interesting.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, if that' 100% the camp that you're in, the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sort of not related to documents at all, maybe that's not it.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Then it becomes interesting, because as I said,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a few things are either one thing or another thing completely.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at Basecamp for example, we have this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,calendar there, that doesn't feel very much like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a document. It doesn't feel like it fits HTML, what's the section
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what's the header, what's the paragraphs here?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It feels like we're using HTML as a delivery mechanism.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's a minority thing part of what we do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we try to fit it in and it should be possible, but it's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not the main thing. The main thing is more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stuff like this. Where it actually does look and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,feel like a document. This looks and feels
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like something you would not have before the web
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this would not be like what an application looked like.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because this is, that native development style of the web.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you look at something like GitHub, same thing,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it feels like a document, it feels like a document that's decorated with some dynamic behavior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's great, but the key part of it, it's essence and it's being, is the document itself.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not just a delivery mechanism. That's the, the slice, and the part of information technology
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I'm interested in. These kinds of document focused
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,applications are not a bad thing. It's not something
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we should be trying to escape, the constraints
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it puts on us to develop an application
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this style, they're liberating.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're not bad. We don't want to start
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with an empty canvas and have to draw everything
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from scratch. The fact that HTML is there, and gives us
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a sort of semantically relevant containers to put
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,certain things in, is a benefits, it's great.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, that's where, I guess, the insight for me is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why is it that I was never interested in Java Applets?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wasn't just because it was Java, it's horrible enough in itself,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it was the notion that this was just a blank canvas,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you could draw whatever you want, there are no limits here,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you don't have to fall in line to some predescribed notion of a document.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or set GUI elements for a document, forms and so forth.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can do whatever you want.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't wanna do whatever I want. I want a container, a base to put my ideas in.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's when I find, that they flourish.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, with that insight in mind, and with the insight in mind
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the web is the most successful software development platform of all human history,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that leaves me to think that it's not acutally that big a surprise that this failed.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because, the architects of this sort of canvas-base, let's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,use the web as a sort of delivery mechanism for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same application architecture that we had on the desktop
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're wrong. That's not the part of the web that's interesting.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not just these accidental properties of oh, it's easy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to update software because it runs on my server.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The things that brought the web to it's prominence with users
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and developers alike, we're the constraints.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Was the fact that that style of interfacing with information technology is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really user-friendly, really development-friendly, it's different.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not in a worse way. And that's usually what I --
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had conversation, I think it was Rails Conf, maybe 7, or something,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and some Microsoft guy was coming up and he was going
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to tell me about serverlite, and the pitch was
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"I'm finally going to free you from HTML"