December 21, 1995

Ruby 0.95 publicly released

Yukihiro Matsumoto published RubyA dynamic language emphasizing developer happiness — Rails made it the default for web startups in the 2000s. 0.95 to Japanese newsgroups — the first public release of the language.

What it was for

Ruby (programming language)RubyA dynamic language emphasizing developer happiness — Rails made it the default for web startups in the 2000s. is an expressive object-oriented scripting language — everything is an object, blocks are first-class. Used for web apps (especially via Rails), DevOpsPractices combining software development and IT operations — automation, CI/CD, and faster releases. tools (Chef, Vagrant), and quick scripts. Matz optimized for developer happiness over raw performance.

People

  • Yukihiro Matsumotocreator

Why it's here

RubyA dynamic language emphasizing developer happiness — Rails made it the default for web startups in the 2000s. prioritized developer happiness and later became the host language for Rails.

Why it mattered

Everything-is-an-object and blocks influenced later languages like SwiftApple's language for iOS, macOS, and server apps — designed for safety and performance. and ElixirA language on the Erlang VM with Ruby-like syntax — popular for Phoenix web apps and real-time systems..

What it solved

Matz wanted a true OO scripting language more elegant than PerlPractical Extraction and Report Language — a scripting language that dominated early web CGI and sysadmin. and more practical than PythonA high-level language known for readability — dominant in data science, scripting, and web backends. for his taste.

Media

  • Ruby (programming language)
    ImageRuby (programming language)

    Yukihiro Matsumoto, Ruby Visual Identity Team, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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