RubyNation - August 1st-2nd
One of the interesting things happening in the Ruby community is the budding of regional Ruby conferences. The Washington DC area is a pretty strong area for Ruby and Ruby on Rails as we have two Ruby user groups, Northern Virginia Ruby Users Group (NovaRUG) and the DC Ruby User Group (DCRUG). With that, it was due time that DC got its own conference called RubyNation which will be held August 1st-2nd, 2008 in Herndon, Virginia. What's great about this conference is that they are just trying to cover expenses and doing it for the love of the technology. They have a fantastic lineup of speakers which include:
- Neal Ford - Keynote
The debate between static and dynamic languages is a red herring, that the debate should be about Essence vs. Ceremony. Neal's keynote will illustrate the origins of these concepts, what they mean to modern software development, and why everyone is suddenly interested in dynamic languages like Ruby.
- Stuart Halloway - Closing Keynote
- David Bock - Tools for your Ruby Toolbox
Rails may be the framework that turned many of us on to Ruby, but if you are using it for all of your server-related Ruby projects, you probably have a hammer and are seeing every problem as a nail. There are a number of smaller, tighter solutions to problem in this space, including GServer (built into the Ruby libraries), StaticMatic (a tool for generating a static site, but with all the templating goodness), and Sinatra, a small server with an awesome DSL for restful web services. We will spend a little bit of time of each of these, seeing how you can use each for a project where you might have previously considered Rails.
- Giles Bowkett - Archaeopteryx: A Ruby MIDI Generator
Archaeopteryx generates MIDI via Ruby to drive prosumer studio music software. It can generate hyperkinetic DJ mixes, infinite streams of ambient music for meditation, and original drum and bass rhythms.
- Yehuda Katz - Living on the Edge
Yehuda will walk you through some of the most exciting advances on the frontiers of Ruby, and provide a tour guide to those who want to walk the dangerous path. By the time the talk is over, you should feel comfortable downloading a bleeding-edge git-repository and installing it.
- Glenn Vanderburg - The Culture of Innovation in Ruby
The Ruby community is a wellspring of innovation at the moment; many people are doing fascinating new things with tools, libraries, and exploring new ways to use the language. This talk will explore some of the reasons for that innovative culture, and discuss ways we can benefit from it and keep it healthy.
The event will be held at the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) in Herndon, VA. If you're familiar with the area, you'll notice it is the upside down oddly shaped building. As you travel along Rt 28 or the Dulles Toll Road, you can't miss this building. The address for the conference is:
CIT Complex
2214 Rock Hill Road
Herndon, Virginia 20170
Register today here! Looking forward to this event.
