I've been doing a lot of miscellaneous reading and thinking about Ruby.
This is in addition to the process of learning the language itself.
It occurred to me that while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem
itself) it doesn't have a mascot.
I've done some reading of past posts on the topic of a Ruby mascot,
but somehow nothing has come to pass.
A mascot is quite important, it serves as an identity to let people
become visually creative.
Take for example the BSD Demon (Chuck), the Linux Penguin (Tux), The
Darwin Platypus (Hexley).
Can we ask a graphics designer to develop a mascot for us?
One such artist who comes to mind quickly is Jon Hooper, the guy who
developed Hexley (http://www.hexley.com/).
If we ask nicely, maybe he would do it for us.
Last I checked, that was spelled Daemon, and his name was Beastie.
···
On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 05:13:49PM +0900, Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
Take for example the BSD Demon (Chuck)
--
Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ]
John W. Russell: "People point. Sometimes that's just easier. They
also use words. Sometimes that's just easier. For the same reasons
that pointing has not made words obsolete, there will always be
command lines."
while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem itself) it doesn't have a mascot.
False. Ruby has had a mascot since 2004: the cute anime character
"Ruby-chan" ("chan" is a suffix of endearment in Japanese; something
like "lil' Ruby") designed by Yoshida Masato:
too late. Perl got its camel (from the "Camel Book") in 1991. (Or
maybe it already had the camel before the book, I'm not sure). Python
has had... well, a Python since basically its inception. BSD's daemon
originated in 1976(!). Linux has had Tux since 1996.
Ruby has been around since the mid 90s and still has no
widely-recognized mascot. At this point I think it's a little late to
be trying to "backport" in a mascot. It would just feel forced and
artificial.
However, if some folks feel we absolutely *must* have a mascot, I
nominate a nice thick slice of chunky bacon.
Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
> while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem itself) it doesn't have a
mascot.
False. Ruby has had a mascot since 2004: the cute anime character
"Ruby-chan" ("chan" is a suffix of endearment in Japanese; something
like "lil' Ruby") designed by Yoshida Masato:
while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem itself) it doesn't have a mascot.
False. Ruby has had a mascot since 2004: the cute anime character "Ruby-chan" ("chan" is a suffix of endearment in Japanese; something like "lil' Ruby") designed by Yoshida Masato:
while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem itself) it doesn't have a mascot.
False. Ruby has had a mascot since 2004: the cute anime character
"Ruby-chan" ("chan" is a suffix of endearment in Japanese; something
like "lil' Ruby") designed by Yoshida Masato:
Ruby has no mascot, and I hope it stays that way.
David
--
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Advancing with Rails January 19-22 Fort Lauderdale, FL
See http://www.rubypal.com for details and updates!
From my point of view the ruby-mascot discussion is moot, because it's
too late. Perl got its camel (from the "Camel Book") in 1991. (Or
maybe it already had the camel before the book, I'm not sure). Python
has had... well, a Python since basically its inception. BSD's daemon
originated in 1976(!). Linux has had Tux since 1996.
Note that Perl's camel is not actually the official mascot; it just
looks like that because for years by far the best book on perl had
that camel on the cover. Perl/Camel combinations are still AFAIK an
O'Reilly trademark.
IIRC Amsterdam.pm even got in some hot water with O'Reilly for
suggesting this as a logo for the Amsterdam edition of YAPC-Europe,
some years ago:
Ruby has been around since the mid 90s and still has no
widely-recognized mascot. At this point I think it's a little late to
be trying to "backport" in a mascot. It would just feel forced and
artificial.
However, if some folks feel we absolutely *must* have a mascot, I
nominate a nice thick slice of chunky bacon.
Getting to the point: whatever "the ruby logo/mascot" will be(come),
will be whatever iconic image is on "the best ruby book". Personally,
when I think about a ruby logo at all, I think of the "ruby gem" that
pragmatic programmers uses. Not much of a mascot, though.
Still, ruby is 45 years younger than Lisp, and THEY don't have any
kind of standard mascot either: http://lisperati.com/logo.html
If Ruby needed a mascot it would have one by now. This attempting to
force it to have one is a silly waste of time.
Okay, point the camera at the Ruby gem, and slowly push in, with atmospheric music. Start a high-hat tickle, going Dit-Daah-Dit, Dit-Daah-Dit. Bring up some eerie violins.
Just as the alto saxophone starts, deep within the glowing depths of the Ruby gem, we see a springing feline silhouette, with a long cigarette holder. It's:
You obviously haven't studied marketing/branding. To hope that the
ability of a program/OS/library stands on its own is only partly true.
Exposure is best for everyone in the long run, and the picture of a
"ruby" cut gem doesn't cut it. It shines but is ultimately inanimate.
If you only want to attract intellectuals, then by all means, omit any
kind of mascot/branding. I'm fine with that.
I can foresee a problem with a cute female mascot, simply from other
programming camps (hey, look!
"picture_of_ruby-chan_cheerleader_upskirt.png") proliferated on python
lists to point out naivety and an exposure type nature. Now, you
could apply this ploy with pretty much anything, but the whole cutesy
girl thing makes that chance easy (pun intended?)
I don't want to go into other things of what a python could do with
ruby-chan exemplified in manga comics to make the Ruby language seem
inferior.
I did like the idea of the raccoon though. But, then you could
scandalously destroy that one, too, with a simple cartoon of a raccoon
reaching for a shiny ruby in a hand trap. Apparently, the real life
raccoon has a hard time letting go of something. Fist gets big, won't
let go, and barbs in the trap pointing into the trap hole depths
capture the critter, because among it's kind, stubbornness abounds.
Analogy: programming freedom sought, but lost in the end via a simple
trap. You can see that argument coming from a mile away.
I don't like the sound of that now that I think about it.
Meerkats, anyone? j/k
Todd
···
On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 7:16 AM, MRH <mauriceroman@gmail.com> wrote:
On Aug 20, 3:13 am, Mayuresh Kathe <kathe.mayur...@gmail.com> wrote:
(SNIP)
If Ruby needed a mascot it would have one by now. This attempting to
force it to have one is a silly waste of time.
From the last discussion on this topic I got the impression that the
reason for this is very pragmatic: there is little hope that a mascot
that appeals to both Asian people and Western people could be found.
Looking, for example, at the Chinese Olympics merchandise I guess I
can understand some of the reasons behind this disagreement.
Thanks
Michal
···
On 20/08/2008, Mayuresh Kathe <kathe.mayuresh@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 5:51 PM, Phlip <phlip2005@gmail.com> wrote:
> Mayuresh Kathe wrote:
>
>> It occurred to me that while Ruby probably has a logo (the ruby gem
>> itself) it doesn't have a mascot.
>
> Yay! Another reason Ruby Rules!!!
Ruby-tan. I knew that there had to be one... (And there is even the
meido version!
A mascot for a grown-up programming language has a version which is
nude???
I understand you don't like manga
How inappropriate. I'm glad this mascot isn't widely acknowledged as it
is not only irrelevant to ruby, it's also quite childish.
But very Japanese... did you know that the hometown of mangaka Gosho
Aoyama used images from his "Meitantei Conan" (called "Case Closed" in
America) as anti-counterfeiting features in official documents? Or that
even the Japanese Self-Defence Forces have been seen using cutesy
anime-styled super-deformed mascots in official publicity materials?
(Those are not exactly anime-gals, yeah, but I think they're even
"worse". After all pinups have always had a strong association with the
military )
