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Bit of the Matz Interview (in Rubyist Magazine

ume

10/6/2004 10:12:00 PM

I haven't translated it all yet (it's quite long to translate, and I'm just
doing this because I'm bored ^^), but here you go. Please pardon the spotty
translation, but at least it gives you an idea so far. ^^;;

-Jasmine Pues

[from Rubyist Magazine / RubiMa]

(interview with Matsumoto Yukihiro)

Notes: In every issue of RubiMa (~Rubyist Magazine) we plan to interview
famous Rubyists.
Of course, for our very first interview, we asked for an interview with the
father of Ruby,
Matsumoto Yukihiro.

Mr. Matsumoto has been interviewed previously by Linux Magazine (December
1999 issue), CNET
Japan (though it was unaired), IBM developerWorks, and Slashdot Japan;
however, for this
interview, (he seems to) want to tell us the parts that he left out of the
other interviews.

And so now we go to the place, for the interview...

-Matsumoto Yukihiro's profile

--originally from (born in) Osaka
--Enthusiast of languages (~"otaku"). He is such an otaku, he developed a
programming
language, called Ruby, by himself that would be known in places throughout
the world.
--works for ... something network? (Jas: sorry, my understanding's a bit
fuzzy here)
--has a wife and three children.
Favorite Phrase: "namae juuyou" [the importance of names]
Favorite People/Mentors: Larry Wall, Donald E. Knuth


--
"Life's not fair, but the root password helps."

:.plum blossom dreaming .:.
navi | mahou | ume
38 Answers

Jamis Buck

10/6/2004 10:59:00 PM

0

ume@lightsider.com wrote:
> I haven't translated it all yet (it's quite long to translate, and I'm just
> doing this because I'm bored ^^), but here you go. Please pardon the spotty
> translation, but at least it gives you an idea so far. ^^;;
>
> -Jasmine Pues

[snip]

Thanks, Jasmine! If you happen to translate any more of it, I'd love to
read it.

(On an almost-related note--Japanese is pretty similar to Korean, yes?
Assuming one had a basic grasp of Korean, about how hard would it be to
learn Japanese, at least sufficiently to read and write it?)

- Jamis

Yukihiro Matsumoto

10/6/2004 11:18:00 PM

0

Hi,

In message "Re: Bit of the Matz Interview (in Rubyist Magazine)"
on Thu, 7 Oct 2004 07:12:22 +0900, <ume@lightsider.com> writes:

|I haven't translated it all yet (it's quite long to translate, and I'm just
|doing this because I'm bored ^^), but here you go. Please pardon the spotty
|translation, but at least it gives you an idea so far. ^^;;

Thank you for the work.

|--works for ... something network? (Jas: sorry, my understanding's a bit
|fuzzy here)

A company named "Network Applied Communication Laboratory (Network
Ouyou Tsuushin Kenkyuujo) or "netlab.jp".

|--has a wife and three children.

And going to be four.

matz.

Yukihiro Matsumoto

10/6/2004 11:27:00 PM

0

Hi,

In message "Re: Bit of the Matz Interview (in Rubyist Magazine)"
on Thu, 7 Oct 2004 07:59:19 +0900, Jamis Buck <jgb3@email.byu.edu> writes:

|(On an almost-related note--Japanese is pretty similar to Korean, yes?
|Assuming one had a basic grasp of Korean, about how hard would it be to
|learn Japanese, at least sufficiently to read and write it?)

We are pretty similar. I can't distinguish Korean from Japanese until
they speak. We are similar to Chinese too. ;-)

For languages, I've heard that basic syntax is similar. I know some
Koreans who have learned to speak Japanese very quickly. Reading and
writing is harder because we have totally different writing system.
I wish natural languages are as easy as programming ones.

matz.

Chad Fowler

10/6/2004 11:48:00 PM

0

On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 08:27:08 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto
<matz@ruby-lang.org> wrote:
speak. We are similar to Chinese too. ;-)
>
> For languages, I've heard that basic syntax is similar. I know some
> Koreans who have learned to speak Japanese very quickly. Reading and
> writing is harder because we have totally different writing system.
> I wish natural languages are as easy as programming ones.
>

Matz, if one wanted to learn just enough Japanese to _barely_
understand what's being discussed on the Japanese mailing lists, which
of the writing systems would be best to start with? From what our
friends at RubyConf told me, _all_ of them are used all of the time.
Is that true for the mailing list too?

My project for next year is to learn Japanese well enough to skim
through for keywords in the mailing lists (if not more) and to be able
to speak basically to my family in Japan :)

Thanks,
Chad

ume

10/7/2004 12:06:00 AM

0

I've seen a lot of kanji (the borrowed Chinese characters) in these types of
things. But, perhaps kana would be best (hiragana). Those two are the most
important, I think (for understanding verbs and grammar also).

But that is just what I have noticed.

-Jasmine

> On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 08:27:08 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto
> <matz@ruby-lang.org> wrote:
> speak. We are similar to Chinese too. ;-)
>>
>> For languages, I've heard that basic syntax is similar. I know some
>> Koreans who have learned to speak Japanese very quickly. Reading and
>> writing is harder because we have totally different writing system. I
>> wish natural languages are as easy as programming ones.
>>
>
> Matz, if one wanted to learn just enough Japanese to _barely_
> understand what's being discussed on the Japanese mailing lists, which
> of the writing systems would be best to start with? From what our
> friends at RubyConf told me, _all_ of them are used all of the time.
> Is that true for the mailing list too?
>
> My project for next year is to learn Japanese well enough to skim
> through for keywords in the mailing lists (if not more) and to be able
> to speak basically to my family in Japan :)
>
> Thanks,
> Chad


--
"Life's not fair, but the root password helps."

:.plum blossom dreaming .:.
navi | mahou | ume

Yukihiro Matsumoto

10/7/2004 12:10:00 AM

0

Hi,

In message "Re: Bit of the Matz Interview (in Rubyist Magazine)"
on Thu, 7 Oct 2004 08:48:14 +0900, Chad Fowler <chadfowler@gmail.com> writes:

|Matz, if one wanted to learn just enough Japanese to _barely_
|understand what's being discussed on the Japanese mailing lists, which
|of the writing systems would be best to start with? From what our
|friends at RubyConf told me, _all_ of them are used all of the time.
|Is that true for the mailing list too?

Do you mean Hiragana, Katakata, and Kanji?

Unfortunately we use all of them (plus Roman alphabets) in our daily
communication. Lack of any will hinder Japanese understanding very
badly. I feel sorry, but this time it's not _my_ design mistake.

|My project for next year is to learn Japanese well enough to skim
|through for keywords in the mailing lists (if not more) and to be able
|to speak basically to my family in Japan :)

There are some tools to convert Kanjis into Hiraganas (kakasi, for
example). It might be help for Japanese beginners.

matz.

Jamis Buck

10/7/2004 12:18:00 AM

0

Chad Fowler wrote:
> On Thu, 7 Oct 2004 08:27:08 +0900, Yukihiro Matsumoto
> <matz@ruby-lang.org> wrote:
> speak. We are similar to Chinese too. ;-)
>
>>For languages, I've heard that basic syntax is similar. I know some
>>Koreans who have learned to speak Japanese very quickly. Reading and
>>writing is harder because we have totally different writing system.
>>I wish natural languages are as easy as programming ones.
>>
>
>
> Matz, if one wanted to learn just enough Japanese to _barely_
> understand what's being discussed on the Japanese mailing lists, which
> of the writing systems would be best to start with? From what our
> friends at RubyConf told me, _all_ of them are used all of the time.
> Is that true for the mailing list too?
>
> My project for next year is to learn Japanese well enough to skim
> through for keywords in the mailing lists (if not more) and to be able
> to speak basically to my family in Japan :)

This is pretty much my goal, too. I'm not too worried about
speaking/listening skills (although from what matz said, those might
come more easily for me), but being able to read/write Japanese at a
basic level (as Chad said--enough to skim the lists for relevant
keywords) would be wonderful.

- Jamis

Eric Schwartz

10/7/2004 12:22:00 AM

0

Yukihiro Matsumoto <matz@ruby-lang.org> writes:
> There are some tools to convert Kanjis into Hiraganas (kakasi, for
> example). It might be help for Japanese beginners.

My experience is that they don't work very well. Instead, I think all
Japanese posters to ruby mailing lists should use furigana. :)

Just kidding, honest! But is there a CJK input method that allows for
furigana, or something similar? How do Japanese people indicate the
way to read their name, for instance, if it's an unusual reading?

-=Eric
--
Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million
typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare.
-- Blair Houghton.

Yukihiro Matsumoto

10/7/2004 12:52:00 AM

0

Hi,

In message "Re: Bit of the Matz Interview (in Rubyist Magazine)"
on Thu, 7 Oct 2004 09:24:48 +0900, Eric Schwartz <emschwar@pobox.com> writes:

|Just kidding, honest! But is there a CJK input method that allows for
|furigana, or something similar? How do Japanese people indicate the
|way to read their name, for instance, if it's an unusual reading?

They use furigana, if their names are really unusual. But it's rare
case since our names are not mix cultured as American names. Besides
that, it's popular among us Japanese Ruby community to write our names
in Hiraganas. I'm one of them.

By the way, furigana (small letters to show pronounce along with the
text) is often called as "Ruby" from its font size (5.5pt). Now we
are back to the list topic. ;-)

matz.

Gavin Sinclair

10/7/2004 1:45:00 AM

0

On Thursday, October 7, 2004, 9:17:59 AM, Yukihiro wrote:

> |--works for ... something network? (Jas: sorry, my understanding's a bit
> |fuzzy here)

> A company named "Network Applied Communication Laboratory (Network
> Ouyou Tsuushin Kenkyuujo) or "netlab.jp".

May I ask, Matz: what does this laboratory work on? And what led it
to employ you as a language creator?

Thanks,
Gavin