The Chicago Ruby meet-up continues to shine for Ruby developers

This past Wednesday the Chicago Ruby had it’s September meet-up at 1871. For those of you who are interested in Ruby programming and working with powerful frameworks like Ruby on Rails or Sinatra, this is something to attend. The Chicago Ruby meet-up covered a rather fun subject entitled “Side Projects Matter.” The discussion was led by Keith Gordon who gave a fun perspective about side projects. There are many projects and experiments that Ruby on Rails programmers get involved with that most people do not get to hear about. As the Rails framework is core to Web application development, the variety of projects gets rather broad...and fun! Keep in mind, some of these not-so-visible projects are things many investors and prospective employers would love to hear about. As they often say in showbiz, the real magic is behind the curtain. In other words, side projects DO matter. They are the tucked away magic and experimentation for tomorrow’s Web applications. The interesting thing about meet-ups like Chicago Ruby is the diverse skill levels of attendees. While many seasoned Ruby enthusiasts turn out, there is a fair share of beginners too. This is outstanding and a major score for Chicago’s start-up tech community. Why? It is a testament that there is sizable growth occurring with the number of developers on the platform. One of the most intriguing things to observe with newer developers is their new ideas for applications on Rails. They are driven to learn and driven to make their ideas come alive in code. 

 

 

Another part of the Chicago Ruby meet-up discussion was around the usage of GitHub. In recent years, many developers have latched on to GitHub for their open source repository of choice. It has been the go-to place for code sharing on projects. The Ruby development community is no exception. Everyone had an opportunity to discuss their GitHub experiences and activities. Again, this is where we got to see those side projects coming together with additional collaboration from other developers.

 

 

Ray Hightower and Tommaso Bufano were in attendance at the Wednesday session, and they (as well as other members) continue to help organize Ruby meet-ups such as Windy City Rails and Chicago Ruby. There has been much excitement since Rails 5.0 was recently released. In fact, Chicago Ruby had a very large and impressive turn-out in a recent meet-up covering Rails 5.0. In talking with Ray Wednesday night, they are planning to cover Action Cable which is a new WebSockets interface for Rails (available as of Rails 5.0). Action Cable combines ultra-responsive real-time applications with the power and convenience of the Rails framework. In addition, there is a new Action Cable tutorial called Learn Enough Action Cable to Be Dangerous recently published by Michael Hartl. As of right now, the draft format for the Action Cable tutorial can be downloaded for free. Those of you familiar with Ruby on Rails will surely recognize the name Michael Hartl as author of the most popular Ruby on Rails Tutorial. As a testimonial, the Hartl tutorial was a major help in more than a couple of my earlier Ruby on Rails projects. His writings about Action Cable are sure to be a hit.

 

If you have an opportunity, be sure to check out the Chicago Ruby meet-up schedule and get in on the action!