# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/why-the-lucky-stiff
# Generated: 2026-08-14T16:25:46.429Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/why-the-lucky-stiff"
name: "why the lucky stiff"
slug: "why-the-lucky-stiff"
description: "Jonathan Gillette, known by the pseudonym why the lucky stiff, is a writer, cartoonist, artist, and programmer notable for his work with the Ruby programming language. Annie Lowrey described him as \"one of the most unusual, and beloved, computer programmers\" in the world. Along with Yukihiro Matsumoto and David Heinemeier Hansson, he was seen as one of the key figures in the Ruby community. Lowrey has speculated that _why's pseudonym might be an allusion to the exclamation \"Why, the lucky stiff!\" from The Fountainhead."
tagline: "American computer programmer"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Whytheluckystiff.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Writers"
  slug: "writers"
profileType:
  name: "Writer / Author"
  slug: "writer"
birthDate: "1953"
livingStatus: "LIVING"
scores:
  popularity:           43.27
  momentum:             0
  historical:           6.162529333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     39.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5401a0e0-fd3a-4d77-8ced-d95b8f88e9ed"
    title: "MusicBrainz"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A_%D8%AF%D8%A7_%D9%84%D9%83%D9%8A_%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%81"
    title: "واي دا لكي ستيف"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff"
    title: "Why the lucky stiff"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff"
    title: "Why the lucky stiff"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff"
    title: "Why the lucky stiff"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff"
    title: "Why the lucky stiff"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1050798"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump