Great writeup! I agree that Ruby is a remarkable language. One that changed my perspective about what a language could be while at the same time combining some

Great writeup! I agree that Ruby is a remarkable language. One that changed my perspective about what a language could be while at the same time combining some of my absolute favorite ideas from Perl, Smalltalk, and Scheme into a syntax far cleaner and more satisfying than almost any other language I've worked with. Dave Thomas's Programming Ruby was a fixture on my office desk for a decade. One of the best programming books I've ever read, with a fantastic reference section (built from Ruby's own excellent baked-in docs), my copy is well worn, and I still find reasons to dig it off the shelf from time to time. I can't give enough Kudos to Matz, Dave, and the rest of the Ruby community for bringing this language into my life. The community they've built is truly amazing, and the language has endured even as it's grown with far fewer bumps and jolts as compared to other similar languages over the same time period. In summary, quite simply amazing! Happy Birthday, Ruby!