Ruby Turns 30: A Celebration of Code, Community, and Creativity
Created by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto and first released in 1995, Ruby arrived with a purpose that was simple but profound: to make coding more human, more intuitive, and more enjoyable. Its object-oriented model, dynamic typing, and elegant syntax offered a fresh alternative to the heavier and more complex languages of that era.
As Ruby marks its 30th anniversary alongside the release of Ruby 4.0, we on the RubyMine team want to reflect on the path that led the language to where it is today and honor this remarkable milestone.
This year, with Ruby turning 30, we’re making RubyMine free for non-commercial use, helping nurture the next generation of Ruby developers and supporting a thriving community.
Click here to try Ruby 4.0 in RubyMine for free.
From revolutionary philosophy to thriving community
Since its inception, Ruby has been more than a set of language constructs. Matz built it around the Principle of Least Surprise, so code would read naturally and behave as developers expect. Ruby’s “Everything is an object” model and its expressive method syntax made everyday tasks clearer, while metaprogramming enabled elegant, domain-specific abstractions. The vision for the language highlights readability and flexibility, showing that the way we write code is as important as the result.
This philosophy spread throughout the community, emphasizing practical, elegant solutions over hype and leading to the creation of valuable tools like:
- Bundler, by Yehuda Katz and Carl Lerche, which enabled reliable team collaboration through dependency management.
- RSpec, initiated by Steven Baker and refined by David Chelimsky and others, which made behavior-driven testing natural to read and write.
- RuboCop, maintained by Bozhidar Batsov, which brought a shared foundation for code style and automated linting.
Together, these tools extended Ruby, which today is more than a language: It is a community, a set of conventions, and a mindset that values craftsmanship and expressive, maintainable code.
The path to modern excellence
Over the years, Ruby has advanced to meet constantly increasing demands and evolving development paradigms. Here’s a closer look at the milestones that shaped the language.
Ruby 1.x (2003–2007)
Ruby 1.8 stabilized the language with mature libraries and solid object-oriented foundations, paving the way for early web frameworks like Rails. Ruby 1.9 introduced the YARV VM, improving speed, regex handling, and syntax. Upgrading to v1.9 cut web request times nearly in half, making Ruby practical for real applications.
Ruby 2.x (2013–2018)
Ruby 2.x boosted reliability and added features to help developers be more productive. Keyword arguments clarified method calls, refinements allowed safer class changes, and incremental GC improved performance. Enhanced libraries simplified tasks like JSON parsing and date handling, helping developers scale complex projects.
Ruby 3.x (2020–2023)
Ruby 3.x delivered on the long-promised vision of Ruby 3×3. Ractors enabled parallelism, JIT improved real-world performance, and RBS with TypeProf added static analysis and safer refactoring. The update reinforced Ruby’s readable, flexible, and productive coding philosophy.
Ruby 4.0 (2025)
The latest version comes with ZJIT, a method-based JIT compiler that redefines Ruby’s performance potential. It also introduces Ruby::Box, an experimental namespace-on-read mode, and notable Ractor improvements, such as Ractor::Port and safer shareable Proc objects.
Ruby’s global impact
The early 2000s brought a transformative moment with the release of Ruby on Rails. Created by David Heinemeier Hansson and released in 2004, Rails paired Ruby’s transparency and natural flow with a framework that emphasized convention over configuration, streamlined workflows, and rapid development.
Suddenly, Ruby became the engine behind a new generation of web startups, proving that elegant design could coexist with productivity and scale.
Ruby’s influence quickly spread to platforms that reshaped the digital world. Here are some of the standout projects:
- GitHub, launched in 2008, relied on Rails and Ruby’s syntax to build a collaborative environment capable of handling millions of developers and repositories.
- Shopify, which was created in 2006 and now boasts the title of the world’s biggest app powered by Ruby and Rails, scaled from a platform supporting small online shops to a global e-commerce powerhouse.
- Airbnb, founded in 2008, used Ruby to power dynamic booking systems, host management, and pricing algorithms, enabling the platform to expand worldwide.
- Homebrew, created by Max Howell in 2009 to simplify software installation and dependency management on macOS, was built using Ruby and serves millions of developers.
Today, Ruby continues to be a popular choice for young startups, including Whop, a Gen‑Z marketplace, and Chime, a rapidly growing fintech company. Both of these projects leverage Ruby on Rails to build scalable and modern platforms, highlighting the framework’s enduring relevance.
Refining the Ruby experience with RubyMine
Introduced by JetBrains in 2009, RubyMine was built as a dedicated IDE designed to bring the full expressive power of Ruby and Rails to developers. With deep code understanding for metaprogramming, smart navigation aligned with Rails conventions, robust testing framework support, and debugging tools, RubyMine enables developers to work efficiently while staying true to the spirit of the language.
More than just supporting the ecosystem, RubyMine actively helps shape it. As Ruby continues to evolve, introducing new syntax, technologies, libraries, and development approaches, RubyMine quickly adopts and supports these changes, providing developers with up-to-date, practical tooling from day one.
By delivering advanced static analysis, powerful refactoring tools, and a continuously updated understanding of the language, RubyMine contributes directly to Ruby’s ongoing popularity and relevance. Its design reflects Ruby itself; it’s powerful, ever-evolving, and built to make coding enjoyable.
Final words
As Ruby enters its fourth decade, we celebrate not only the language but also the people whose passion, creativity, and dedication have made it thrive. From mentors and contributors to conference organizers and Rails developers worldwide, this community embodies the spirit that keeps Ruby vibrant and evolving.
The RubyMine team is proud to pay tribute to both this inspiring language and the people who bring it to life.
The RubyMine team
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