Aaron Patterson on Rails Core and Keynote Perspective | RailsConf 2014
Hi, it's Mike with UGtastic, and I'm at RailsConf 2014, and I'm standing here with Aaron Patterson. You might know him as TenderLove on Twitter and GitHub and all those social places, but he's going to. Hi, it's Mike with UGtastic, and I'm at RailsConf 2014, and I'm standing here with Aaron Patterson. You might know him as TenderLove on Twitter and GitHub and all those social places, but he's going to. Dive into the fascinating journey of Aaron Patterson, a core member of the Rails team, as he shares his insights on 'Adequate Record' and his contributions to the open-source community.
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
The Guest
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Hi, it's Mike with UGtastic, and I'm at RailsConf 2014, and I'm standing here with Aaron Patterson. You might know him as TenderLove on Twitter and GitHub and all those social places, but he's going to be giving the footnote to the conference tonight. I can't really call it the keynote, because it's at the end. I don't know what to call it. The anti-keynotes. Yeah, the anti-keynotes. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me. Can you tell me a little bit about what your talk is going to be about?
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Yeah, well, first, I guess the first 30% is just going to be like jokes and trolling. The second 30% is going to be, I don't know, some bugs and stuff. With like, you know, ActiveRecord internals, and the final 60% is going to be, excuse me, the final 50% is going to be about adequate record. And I know that adds up to 110%, but I always like to give 110%. It's 100%, just don't add it. Don't add. So yeah, it's just going to be like, I don't know, jokes, bugs, and then adequate record is what we're going to be talking about.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Okay. What is adequate record?
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
It's a project I've been working on. I've been working on it for a very long time, but I didn't really have a name for it. But what it is, it's just a set of patches on top of ActiveRecord. Like, it's just stuff that I've been doing on top of ActiveRecord, specifically for performance, like performance improvements to ActiveRecord.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Is it like just more of a streamlining of the internals or?
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Well, it's been, so basically I've been refactoring the internals for a very long, like I've had this idea for the performance improvement. And what the main performance improvement is, is basically SQL statement generation caching. So actually the string that you pass to the database, or that ActiveRecord passes to the database, like the actual SQL statement, it caches the generation of that. So we only do that once and your queries end up being faster from that. But I've been working on basically internal refactoring for literally years just to get to the point where I could do, I could have this particular thing, but I never had a name for it until recently.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Oh, really? Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Well, that sounds like, like what, in other database engines where you can lean on some of that query caching inside of it, you're pulling some of that capability out into, into the Ruby layer, the app layer, so it can... Yeah, yeah. We are, we actually already do, so ActiveRecord actually already does query caching, like uses prepared statements and does cache query, yeah, cache query execution. So we do that. The problem though, is that even though we, even though we use those prepared statements, we still have to generate the SQL statement in order to look up the prepared statement and then do that. So we've had, we've always had this overhead before querying the database of like building up, you know, building up the query before we go out. So this basically eliminates that overhead is part of the stuff I've been working on.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
And you've, you've been a contributor to Rails for a while.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Was Rails the first open source projects you were involved in or how did you come to being a Rails core? Yeah, no, no, not at all. Rails was not the first thing I worked on at all. I guess I've been working on, well, my very first open source commit or open source patch was probably in, what was that? 2001, I think. Um, but it was like, it was to a Perl, Perl library. Don't Google me, Perl please. It's embarrassing. But you don't want anybody to know you did Perl. No, no. I can't. No, my first, like my first real major open source stuff was with Ruby in maybe 2006 working on the mechanized gem. That was like the first, my first like real, you know, meat. Also that was a port of the Perl Mechanizer. Perl Mechanized.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
By Andy Lester. Yep. Who I've also interviewed. Oh, awesome. Awesome. From my neck of the woods. Oh, that's awesome.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So, so, so, so from one open source project to another, uh, I'm, I'm making the network. I'm going to close all the open source contributors.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So I worked on actually, I, I mean, I didn't actually start Mechanize. I inherited it from, I inherited it from somebody. Like I was using it, I was using it a lot. And like, actually I have a fun story about using it. Uh, but anyway, yeah, I like the current or the maintainer when I picked it up, he wasn't, he wasn't working on it so much. So I picked it up from him and that was like my first responsibility, I guess. So that's when you became a grownup in, in FOSS. Yes, yes, exactly. Is that when you decided to go with the beard or like, Oh, I own something. I got a responsibility.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I probably got to grow up, grow out the beard.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
But I, you know, but from there, when did you learn about rails?
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Uh, so basically around the same time I was getting into Ruby working on like basically working on Mechanize, um, just to do some, oh, automation, like web automation stuff. Um, and then around that same time, the 15 minute video came out. Oh yeah. That doc filled a blog post.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
And then I saw, so I saw that blog.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I saw that and I was like, wow, I got to try this out. So I tried out, like I tried out rails from there and I, I loved it. I was actually a, I was actually a Java developer at the time. Like I worked at a, worked on J2EE systems, um, and saw the, saw the blog in 15 minutes. And I was like, I must do this. This looks so much easier than my job.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
And more fun. Yes, definitely. Uh, so that's how I got introduced, like how I was introduced to rails. And then, I don't know, maybe about a year later, I got a job. I took a job doing rails development for a startup.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
And then it was, and then you just started contributing patches or? Yeah. Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I mean, I did a lot of like, basically throughout that time, my open source portfolio was growing, I suppose. And, um, uh, so at this startup, I got experience doing rails development. Like I didn't really contribute any patches or anything. I was just an app developer.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Um, but, uh, after that job, I got a job at AT&T and I was doing app development there as well, but it turns out that like, Oh, AT&T Interactive.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Seattle Ruby thing.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
AT&T Interactive.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I got a job there and they, um, it turns out they had a lot of Ruby developers and a lot of them were using my open source stuff and they also needed patches to rails. And I guess like one thing led to another and that's like, that's basically how I got involved.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I have to say, it was a kind of a little trippy to meet people and be like, you're using my stuff. Oh yes. Yes, absolutely. It was very like, so at the time I had, I mean, you know, I knew there were people out there who used my software, but I was just kind of abstract thing. Well, I was, yeah, so it was kind of abstract. It was all, I was also completely oblivious to the actual number of people who were really using it. Cause I mean, you know, you only get like, you get a bug report or whatever. You only get one, I mean, you get a bug reports from a very small percentage of people who actually use your software. And like, you don't understand exactly how small a percentage that is.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So then when you understand like, Oh, it's actually a very tiny percentage, which means that there are tons of people using your software, it kind of, it blows your mind. It's, it's pretty incredible. So yeah, it was very nice.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Well, and now here you're speaking to a conference for probably the vast, overwhelming majority. I mean, I, I don't know if I said exactly this to, to DHH, but that, you know, I, I pay my bills using these tools and, uh, you know, and that's, that's, I, I, I often wonder for, for people who are wanting a large projects or contributing to these, does that ever alter your, your perception of, of the relationship with like, don't you just try not to think about that too much? Uh, no, I mean, I think about that. It actually like, that actually makes me very happy that people are using my software to pay, you know, pay bills. I mean, like, I, I don't know, like, I, I got all serious on you, man. I'm sorry. No, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Like, it's actually, so it's actually really cool to me because, um, I want to be able to help people, right? Like, ideally I would, I want to help as many people as possible. And like, my skills are programming. Like that is what I do. And that's something I can do well. And I feel like, um, I have more reach to help people like doing, by doing open source stuff, I feel like I'm actually improving the lives of more people than say, if I was working on an online advertising website.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
Which is where, yes, exactly. Or where, so like, that's, I mean, that's why I love doing what I do. And I'm happy to think about that. It makes me happy that people are making money with software I write.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So, so it feels good and it's fun. And then, and that's overall the vibe you give on, on your Twitter and everything is you do the Friday hugs, you have your cat, Gorby Puff. Yes, Gorby Puff.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I can remember if it's Gorby Puff or just Gorby. Well, well, his full name is Gorbachev Puff Puff Thunder Horse the third, but we call him Gorby Puff for short. Gorby Puff Puff Thunder Horse the third.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So you hear it here. Please, please get it right on the Twitter.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I like, so I was thinking about... You don't know him well enough to call him Gorby Puff. I was thinking about changing my name to Thunder Horse because it sounds like, it sounds super awesome. When, when I got married, I was like, Hey, what do you think about changing our last name to Thunder Horse? So we can be in a band or something. Yeah, we'll be the band. You do have the metal vibe. I feel like, you know, I'm going to get a contact high. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I feel like I should be getting a contact high. I'm not actually a race, a race. No, I'm not going to race that. Um, but, uh, well, uh, you know, and, and, and with, with that relationship to the community, and sometimes I think, I was seeing, looking at the conference and I look at, uh, DHH's very, uh, early talk, which is funny in his wry sense of his wry humor. It's very Danish, Denmarkian humor. Uh, and then a little bit more, uh, uh, American humor, a little bit more obvious. Uh, and I, I, and I was thinking like, what is the analogy of Bing Crosby and Bob Holt, where they were both funny, but one was more, you know, the guffaw funny, and, uh, Ayo. Yeah, yeah. Sway in the golf club, you know, and, uh, one was more funny, but in a very upright way. Uh, so I just think it's, it's funny in our community that we have, uh, we have our own Bing Crosby and, and Bob Holt. And, you know, I, I think though, when, when DHH got up and, and, and gave his, his talk, that because he didn't have the Bob Holt to, to foil off of, I think some people took what he said a little too literally, a little too much to heart. Oh, yeah. Am I, am I, am I. No, I agree. I agree with you. I agree with you. Well, but, but I think it's fine because, um, that's basically why I'm going to be trolling him in my talk.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
So when they, when they listen to you, they should think of it in the context of, you know, these are two people who are central to the maintenance and future of rails and kind of orbiting around each other in, in getting the direction that you listen. Yes. I am the, we're the yin and yang.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Aaron Patterson
Rails core and keynote perspective
▶ Speaking
I suppose. I'm going to have the little captain's cap, uh, uh, in the golf club. Yes, exactly. But I'm sure, uh, I'm sure DHH knows how to dance really well. Oh yeah.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah. Um, well, thank you very much for taking the time. Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you. It was good to meet you here. Have a hug. I'll get it on a Friday. [Music]