1. RubyConf 2018: Let's Subclass Hash - What's the Worst That Could Happen?

    The RubyConf 2018 logo.

    Have you ever been tempted to subclass a core class like Hash or String? Or have you read blog posts about why you shouldn’t do that, but been left confused as to the specifics? As a maintainer of Hashie, a gem that commits this exact sin, I’m here to tell you why you want to reach for other tools instead of the subclass.


Hi, I'm Michael Herold. I am a husband, father of two, and a staff engineer at Shopify working on the Shop Search team.

I'm a Rubyist by trade and maintain Hashie and KSUID for Ruby. I am working to better the IndieWeb experience in Ruby, in particular for the Bridgetown static site generator, which I use to host this website.