What are gems made out of? Code. (dammit Avi…)

I realized the other day that, while I’ve been using gems for awhile now I didn’t actually know what goes into building and publishing one. Let’s fix that.

Try taking a tour of an engineering building at Penn without someone telling you about how ENIAC was the first digital computer. Seriously, try it. I bet you a million dollars they mention it. Seriously, bet me. Please? I could use the cash or there may be a significant increase in my ramen consumption quite shortly. No? Fine. Whatever.

I believed those professors and tour guides because 1) I figured that they knew what they were talking about, and 2) I’d seen it in books. Everything in books is true, right? #bible. Turns out tour_guides.liar_liar_pants_on_fire? returns true.

The speed of light.

Avogadro’s number.

Planck’s constant.

The mass of an electron.

I thought that I understood constants. Unchanging. Immutable. Then Ruby went and fucked it up.