As a software engineer who works on embedded systems and deals with things pretty close to the metal at times and primarily still works in C, I don’t get exposed to some of the new stuff that’s going on. I have to put forth extra effort to stay up to date – and even then I can’t stay on top of everything.

Given the above, it’s somewhat understandable that I’m just now discovering Ruby. I have a tendency to dismiss brand-spanking new things as vaporware, flaky, or what-have-you. I was that way about SCons when it first appeared on the scene, and I ignored it for a few years and then came back to it and liked it.

I’ve just come ’round on my cycle with Ruby. I read about it when it first appeared, but I dismissed it out of hand. After a few years (i.e., about 5 or so), I’m now re-discovering Ruby and appreciating that it fulfills more of its potential than it did before. It’s pretty neato.

Rails is another thing I’m starting to dig into. I realize I’m behind and that Rails has been out for a while and has been the hot new thing on the web for at least a year – but realize that web programming hasn’t really been my forte or one of my primary interests. I think that may be starting to change to the degree that I realize that web programming is the future, for now. Desktop applications still have a future, of course, but they won’t experience the growth, vigor, or innovation that web applications will.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. I really just wrote this so I can have a ‘ruby’ tag in my cloud.