Building native Ruby extensions in Rust

2024 is such a great time to be a Ruby developer! The language is improving with initiatives like YJIT, enhanced GC, and Prism.

Even when we face language boundaries, we no longer need to default to C. Extending our gems using the modern and fast tooling provided by the Rust ecosystem is easier than ever.

In this talk, I will share my journey at Shopify in creating a Ruby gem with a Rust native extension, discuss the advantages, challenges, good practices, and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Bio

Hey! I’m Guilherme!

Although Ruby is my favorite language, it wasn’t the first one I learned. I started programming with Pascal and ActionScript over 20 years ago when my uncle taught me. That’s when I discovered my lifelong passion for creating things with code.

Currently, I work as a Staff Developer at Shopify, where I build tooling for Liquid developers. My responsibilities range from the CLI and the Liquid language server running on their machines to the infrastructure that showcases their work in storefronts.

Prior to Shopify, I worked for five fun years at Red Hat, focusing on open-source tools for the DMN and BPMN specs.

I’m always eager to connect with folks and talk about developer tooling or good restaurants. Let’s chat! :)