Ruby and the joy of programming

Years ago I used to solve many mathematical problems in Ruby. Looking backwards, I find difficult to explain my decision, because if I remember correctly Ruby was slow compared with C++ or Perl, and since most of the time I ended using a brute force approach to solve what my imagination could not solve efficiently I often ended awaiting longer times before obtaining my answers.

However, I can clearly remember that for the first time in my conscious programming life, I was happy and I was enjoying my time with some programming language. So I didn't worry too much about some additional time awaiting a stupid brute force solution. I was solving mathematical puzzles for fun and with Ruby I could quickly test some crazy ideas, leave the process running and go to do other things. Ruby was powerful, concise, elegant, and more importantly it didn't force over me its formatting policies or push me to do things in some way I didn't like to. I had finally found a language where everything fitted in place and seemed natural. I thought: this language must have been created by someone who really likes having fun while programming.

And indeed it was. Ruby was created by Yukihiro Matsumoto (aka Matz), who is one of my heroes actually. I found an interview he gave about Ruby and there he said something that really touched a fiber inside me, I have always used his words as an inspiration:

Fun to use. Freedom to choose. This man taught me all.

Solving simple International Mathematical Olympiad problems.

Solving simple International Mathematical Olympiad problems by programming is a sadistic stress reliever. They were originally thought to be solved using only paper, pencil and lots of young and smart neurons. Let's amuse ourselves solving them with a bit of code. Afterall, Why not to use the nukes? :D