Steve Mallett reports in his blog that Ruby was the talk of OSCON this year. That’s great news!

I helped Dave and James put together OSCON’s Ruby track this year, so I’m really disappointed that I didn’t get to attend the show. I really enjoyed it last year. But I’m very pleased at the Ruby track that resulted, and thrilled about Steve’s assessment.

Of course, Dave had his “Ruby in a Day” tutorial, and Matz got to speak about the thinking that gives rise to Ruby. For OSCON, it was crucial to have a Ruby talk aimed at those with a Perl background, and Phil Tomson came through. And Rich Kilmer spoke about FreeRIDE, the Ruby IDE he’s been developing. (FreeRIDE has a very interesting architecture, and I’m especially sorry I didn’t get to see the talk.)

One of Ruby’s real strengths, in my opinion, is its power for metaprogramming. Of course, many dynamic languages allow you to do such things, but in most languages the code for metaprogramming is almost otherworldly … as soon as you start doing those kinds of things, your code becomes difficult for most people to understand. Metaprogramming in Ruby is unusually expressive and straightforward, and we found some great talks that showcase that capability. Michael Granger and David McCorkhill started with a discussion of classes that adapt to the data they’re representing. Chris Pine contributed an overview of the basic concepts behind Ruby’s dynamic capabilities. And finally, Dave wrapped up with a talk I’ve been waiting to see for a year: a case study of a fascinating project he did last summer.

I think the next year will bring great things for Ruby. I think Mac programmers will continue to discover it, since it is bundled with Mac OS X. Ruby 1.8 is soon to be released, and no doubt it will be followed by new editions of the popular Ruby books. And if Steve’s assessment of the mood at this year’s OSCON is correct, there are a lot of Perl developers who see in Ruby something they’re looking for.

Next year I hope to do more than help organize the OSCON Ruby track; I want to be there and contribute a talk of my own. Hopefully after the strong showing Ruby made this year, there will be more slots available for Ruby next year. A strong group of proposals can only help that effort, so start planning now!