Ruby & Science?
FACT:
RUBY IS NOT WIDELY USED
IN RESEARCH PROJECTS
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Ruby ∩ Science ≃ ∅ ?
Why?
not suitable for scientific uses?
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Can Ruby fill the needs of scientists?
What people in academia need?
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Research nowadays:
Do
something
Collect
data
Manipulate
data
Interpret
results
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FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,
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FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,
It doesn’t matter the research field,
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FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,
it doesn’t matter the research field,
(almost) every research project needs code.
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enter Ruby
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Ruby
Slow
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Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
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Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
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Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
=> Not suitable for science?
Small academic user base
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core research, simulations, modeling, calculations ...
R, automatization tasks, graphs, formatting data ...
Research Project’s code
WHAT?
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Wide spectrum of very different tasks
Research Project’s code
WHAT?
Speed is not a factor
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Not programmers
Research Project’s code
WHO?
Experienced enough to tweak an existent solution
Help wanted
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What help are they
getting?
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Python
SciPy, NumPy
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Java
Lots of libraries, easy to find
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Excel
Really!
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How can we help?
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Ruby
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Ruby
General purpose lang
Increase developer happiness
Powerful & beautiful syntax
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Ruby Researcher
General purpose lang
Increase developer happiness
Powerful & beautiful syntax
Not programmers
Experience tweaking
existent solutions
Wide range of
different code tasks
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Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
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Ruby
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
Slow Speed not a factor
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Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
Speed not a factor
Let’s push here!
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SciRuby
Goal: SciPy/NumPy for Ruby: SciRuby/NMatrix
pre-alpha/alpha state
Active development
SciRuby.com github.com/SciRuby/sciruby
Help wanted
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Let’s push Ruby into
Academia
Goals:
- Make Ruby known to/used by researchers
- Create an ecosystem of scientific ruby libs
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Let’s push Ruby into
Academia
Goals:
- Create an ecosystem of scientific ruby libs
- Make Ruby known to/used by researchers
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Let’s participate
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Direct action
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Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like
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Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like
2. Find your closest university department
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Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like
2. Find your closest university department
3. Offer help & code
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Why?
What’s in it for you?
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Why?
More Ruby uses => Good for Rubysts & Ruby
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Why?
OpenSource: Same motivations
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Why?
Helping Science
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Why?
Doing Science
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Why?
OS rewards are good,
helping science rewards are great
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Why?
Learning about interesting issues & problems
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Why?
Easy
result/effort
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Why?
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Ruby & Science
communities
Sharing information is the norm
Openness is a value
Reputation based systems
Members are welcoming and willing to help
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Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?
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Probably No
Maybe?
Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?
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Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?
Probably No
Maybe?
Who cares?
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Let’s make Ruby
the favorite
programming language
of scientists!