Curious about the widespread appeal of Ruby? Its advocates describe it as a beautifully crafted, artistic language, while also highlighting its practicality and usefulness. Since being publicly launched in 1995, Ruby has garnered a loyal following of programmers from all corners of the globe. By 2006, Ruby had reached a level of widespread acceptance, with user groups emerging in major cities around the world and Ruby-focused conferences attracting large crowds. The Ruby-Talk mailing list, which serves as the main forum for discussions regarding the language, reached an impressive average of 200 messages daily during that year. However, in more recent times, the volume of messages has decreased as the community has diversified into numerous smaller groups. Ruby consistently ranks among the top 10 in various indices evaluating the growth and popularity of programming languages globally, such as the TIOBE index. A significant factor contributing to this rise is the increasing prominence of software developed in Ruby, most notably the Ruby on Rails web framework, which has played a pivotal role in its adoption by developers. The combination of elegance and functionality continues to attract new users to the Ruby community.