---
title: My Conscience Won't Let Me Call Ruby a Computer Language
teaser:
tags: web,ruby
author: []
published_on: 2012-03-24
---

> My conscience won’t let me call Ruby a computer language. That would imply
> that the language works primarily on the computer’s terms. That the language
> is designed to accomodate the computer, first and foremost. That therefore,
> we, the coders, are foreigners, seeking citizenship in the computer’s locale.
> It’s the computer’s language and we are translators for the world.
>
> But what do you call the language when your brain begins to think in that
> language?  When you start to use the language’s own words and colloquialisms
> to express yourself. How can it be the computer’s language? It is ours, we
> speak it natively!
>
> We can no longer call it a computer language. It is the language of our
> thoughts.

-- [_why's poignant guide to Ruby](http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/book/chapter-3.html)