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Programming Ruby

Jim Weirich, Creator of Rake, Has Passed Away 109

Posted by timothy from the always-sad-news dept.
SirLurksAlot writes "News is beginning to circulate on Twitter and various sites that Jim Weirich, the creator of Rake, has passed away at the age of 58. He was an active developer (his last commit in the last 24 hours) and has made many contributions to the Ruby community over the years, as well as being a prolific speaker and teacher. He had a great sense of humor and was beloved by many. He will be greatly missed."
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Jim Weirich, Creator of Rake, Has Passed Away More

Jim Weirich, Creator of Rake, Has Passed Away

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  • Wow. He must have been, like, 6,000 years old! I'm sure rakes have been around since the dawn of agriculture.

  • It was the beta (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 20, 2014 @06:30PM (#46299591)

    He clicked something and beta came up...

  • FYI (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Hi, Slashdot has sold out to Dice, and Alice Hill and her MBA goons are working hard to drive to turn this into another Slashington Post.

    http://soylentnews.org/ [soylentnews.org]

    Well over 2000 strong now, Dice.

  • 58 is pretty young (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jeff Flanagan ( 2981883 ) on Thursday February 20, 2014 @06:51PM (#46299777)
    It's cool that he was still coding right up until his death, but that death was much too early.

    Based on the Wikipedia photo It looks like he spent too much time improving his mind, and not enough taking care of his body.

    If you look like Jim, it's time to change your diet and get active if you want a long healthy life. Tech like FitBit and Jawbone can help. Active gaming using Kinect instead of sitting with a controller, and spending 30 min a day weightlifting did wonders for me.

    You'll feel better, think more clearly, and get positive attention from the opposite sex.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      He didn't even lift, did he, brah?

      Folks know the dangers of obesity, fuckhead. Perhaps it was a choice he made willingly. Either way, save it for another thread, douchebucket.

    • Re: 58 is pretty young (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You don't know the details of what happened. I can tell you the answer is more complicated than not spending enough time working on your body. Sometimes, due to other medical conditions, people are unable to get around like they used to when they were younger. This makes other problems harder to tackle.

      By jumping to conclusions about this man, you are proving to be insensitive and offensive and I hope that you take some time and reflect on that.

    • You'll feel better, think more clearly, and get positive attention from the opposite sex.

      ...but what if he was bi, you insensitive clod!

    • Is it cool though? I mean before I go, I'd love to take some time off first and relax.

  • Shocked (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bill_the_Engineer ( 772575 ) on Thursday February 20, 2014 @06:54PM (#46299799)

    I was taken aback when I heard the news. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. My understanding is that it may have been a heart attack.

    You will be missed Jim. RIP.

  • not a surpise - coders should take notice (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thetoadwarrior ( 1268702 ) on Thursday February 20, 2014 @07:14PM (#46299975) Homepage
    It's a great shame that he died so young but let's be honest, this isn't exactly surprising. If you're a developer it seems this outcome is far more likely than you'll live to be happy and fit into your 80's or 90's.

    What's sad is some people will throw away their youth working excessive hours for some employer that won't care about them only to die in their 50's and they won't be famous enough to get all the kind messages like Jim has. Though I'm sure Jim rather be alive than having people saying nice things about him now.

    We should recognise programming isn't necessarily a safe job and demand better rights.
    • Being a developer means that I have to sit in one place for 8 hours a day. What I do for the other 8 hours awake is up to me, and has nothing to do with my employer.

      Like most people here I spend a lot of time on the computer at home as well, but It only takes an hour a day of exercise to stay very fit. I know it can be hard to get motivated to get up and get active, but it's really worth it. You only get one body. Make the most of it.
      • Except many programmers don't do just 8 hours and even if they did, I'm not sure you can imply that's healthy. I don't think anyone ever thought it was healthy and it's a reason women who had life long jobs in factories often had nasty legs. Even if you weren't coding it's impossible to be moving about all evening so even combing a few hours of sitting at home with sitting all day and, if you drive then you've easily spent the bulk of the day on your ass even if you're active most of the evening.

      • There's actually a lot of evidence that sitting down the majority of your awake time (8+ hours) is itself bad for the body, and cannot be made up for with physical exercise. Working a few hours standing up and being mildly active (i.e. taking walks) during free time is better. Of course, one hour spent at the gym is better than one more hour in the couch. I'm just saying that if you have the opportunity to work standing up, it is likely worth a lot more than you think!

      • You only work 8 hours a day? You lucky dog.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Xest ( 935314 )

        "What I do for the other 8 hours awake is up to me"

        Lucky you, some of us don't get to live in our mothers basement for all eternity though and have to deal with everything from doing house choirs, to cooking food, to looking after kids, to spending time with our partners, to doing DIY jobs, to doing food shopping, to reading about new things to stay relevant and employable, to paying bills to getting the car fixed, and so on.

        Now don't get me wrong, I did 35hrs a week study whilst also working 40hrs a week t

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mwehle ( 2491950 )

      It's a great shame that he died so young but let's be honest, this isn't exactly surprising. If you're a developer it seems this outcome is far more likely than you'll live to be happy and fit into your 80's or 90's.

      You've certainly got that right - the developer's life is a dangerous one, fraught with peril. To write code is to live fast and often to die young.

    • I was with you until the last sentence, then you went off the fucking rails.

      We should recognise programming isn't necessarily a safe job and demand better rights.

      Lolwut? Programming is a very safe job. I think you should go to a coal mine and tell the miners about how dangerous your job is and that they should punch you in the forehead and walk away laughing and shaking their heads in disbelief.

      We don't need any more rights. As a fat programmer, I don't blame my job I blame me for stuffing my face and not exercising enough. I don't need to "demand better rights" to solve either of those

  • Jim will be Missed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by newlife007 ( 1928394 ) on Thursday February 20, 2014 @07:58PM (#46300315)
    Jim was a great guy with a good sense of humor. He was very active in the Linux and Programming here in the Cincinnati area. I have known Jim for over 20 years and he will be missed by many. He was a very avid Ruby supporter and also of OpenSource. It is great to see him mentioned here on Slashdot, but a shame to hear the poor comments made about a man who cared about what he did. Free speech or not, it is nice to be respected.

  • It would have taken all of three words to give those of us who are not developers a hint about what "Rake" is.

    I mean, for chrissake...

    • Well, some kind of explanation would be nice, but it's not as easy as it might seem.

      If you're a developer, an explanation such as "It's kind of like make for Ruby" might suffice. But really, it's not quite like make, and strictly speaking it's not just for Ruby. So more than a very basic comparison with make gets pretty complicated.

      And if you're not a developer... well, it's a tool that tells compilers how to compile source code into programs. Sort of.

  • Jim was 57, not 58.

    RIP

  • R.I.P. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Thursday February 20, 2014 @08:42PM (#46300649) Journal

    I used to debate Jim on Usenet about software design. He was one of the best debate partners I've ever encountered. He was patient, detailed, articulate, asked good questions, and was honest when he could only provide anecdotal information instead of directly inspect-able evidence. (An example is measuring grokkability of code or designs to typical maintenance developers.)

    A good many debaters turn it into a personal credibility battle when faced with anecdote-versus-anecdote impasses. Jim knew to let it go and let the stalemate be.

    We'll miss you Jim! You set a great example.

    -Tablizer

  • Someone who gives so selflessly will be missed.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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