Kevin Newton
Software engineer focused on language tooling and runtimes; author of Prism (Ruby 3.3's error-tolerant parser), a pure-Ruby YAML parser (Psych-Pure), and a pure-Ruby regex engine, with experience at Shopify and Meta working on language runtimes and JITs.
Best podcasts with Kevin Newton
Ranked by the Snipd community
Feb 6, 2026 • 56min
Kevin Newton on Ruby & Python, Prism, Psych-Pure, and Exreg
Kevin Newton, a language tooling engineer who built Prism, a pure-Ruby YAML parser, and a regex engine, talks about Ruby vs Python runtime trade-offs. He covers Prism’s goals and adoption, FreeThreadedPython and the GIL, error-tolerant parsing for IDEs, and building pure-Ruby parsers and regex VMs. The conversation mixes technical trade-offs with practical design stories.
