RubyCamp in review (and plans for another one)

[pat eyler]

I think the RubyCamp on Saturday went pretty well for a first
shot at putting something like this together. About 20 people
showed up (including some folks new to Ruby). We had
several good sessions:
* learning Ruby and getting involved locally
* deploying Rails Apps
* intro to Ruby
* intro to RSpec
* working with DSLs

There were certainly things that could have been improved
though. I'd love to get some discussion going about how we
can do better next time. (There were some good ideas put
forward at our wrap-up, but I wanted to start this discussion
with a blank slate so I'm not going to mention them here.)

We're tentatively planning on another RubyCamp sometime
in January. To make it as good as possible, please answer
the following:

* Is this even worth doing?

* When would be best for you?

* What kind of topics would you like to talk about or work on?

* What mix of discussion, hacking, and presentations do you
want to see?

(if you went to RubyCamp)
* What did did we do well and we should keep doing?

* What didn't do well and we should stop doing?

* What new stuff would you like to see us do at the next
RubyCamp?

--
thanks,
-pate
-------------------------
Duty makes us do things, Love make us do things well.
http://on-ruby.blogspot.com http://on-erlang.blogspot.com
http://on-soccer.blogspot.com

[Brad Midgley]

pat

> There were certainly things that could have been improved
> though. I'd love to get some discussion going about how we
> can do better next time.

I enjoyed the session.

My suggestion there was to have a section on the rubycamp page with
topic ideas and ask people to make a note if it's something they can
talk about. The idea list can start with some of the obvious (intro,
testing, favorite plugins) and should be easy to expand.

I would have liked to talk about something basic but I need to plan ahead.

Brad

[Adrian Madrid]

Thanks so much for all your work in getting this done. It was good to be a part of the activity.

On Nov 20, 2007 8:53 AM, pat eyler < pat....@gmail.com> wrote:

...

We're tentatively planning on another RubyCamp sometime
in January.  To make it as good as possible, please answer
the following:

* Is this even worth doing?

 

Definitely. 

* When would be best for you?

3rd Saturday of January.

 

* What kind of topics would you like to talk about or work on?

I would like to work on BDD and could present on alternatives to Rails and AR (Merb/Sinatra/Sequel/DataMapper/etc). 

 

* What mix of discussion, hacking, and presentations do you
want to see?

I would like to see 30% of theory and 70% of hands-on tutorials. 

 

(if you went to RubyCamp)
* What did did we do well and we should keep doing?

Getting started was great. We should keep it going and get more people involved. 

* What didn't do well and we should stop doing?

We need to have more prepared presentations (I'm totally guilty of not preparing with time mine). 

 

* What new stuff would you like to see us do at the next
RubyCamp?

One class that I loved at BYU was in Java (WTH?). They took us through creating the foundation for an app and then two front-ends in JSP and GUI. Maybe we can do something like building a restful Rails/Merb with specs and then build a web app that consumes those services (JS, GUI, Web, etc). I think that approach could work for a lot of new people and hit the right spot for older people at another moment in the process. Or maybe we can have two tracks? I think one big challenge of this is to reach out to newbies and oldies alike.

I hope I can do more to help next time.

Sincerely,

--
Adrian Esteban Madrid
Lead Developer, Prefab Markets
http://www.prefabmarkets.com

[Ben Mabey]

>
> There were certainly things that could have been improved
> though. I'd love to get some discussion going about how we
> can do better next time. (There were some good ideas put
> forward at our wrap-up, but I wanted to start this discussion
> with a blank slate so I'm not going to mention them here.)
>
>

I think lightning talks are much better than regular presentations,
unless the presenter is really interested in what they are presenting
and has prepared well. (Which wasn't me this past time - the preparing
part....) Also, I really liked John's idea about breaking up into
smaller groups. What would be cool is if we could throw out some ideas
for some cool projects that would be fun to work on. I think doing some
actual coding would be very beneficial/enjoyable to most people.

Anyone have any ideas for projects?

-Ben

[Jimmy Z]

> * Is this even worth doing?

Yes. I really enjoyed the experience last time. I'd enjoy doing it
again.

> * When would be best for you?

Any Saturday in January.

> * What kind of topics would you like to talk about or work on?

I'd like to learn more on the BDD/Rspec stuff. Ben gave a good intro
to RSpec and Storywriter, and I think it would have been great to
actually get our hands dirty with Rspec.

I think Merb would be cool too.

> * What mix of discussion, hacking, and presentations do you
> want to see?

I like the idea of having lightning talks. Maybe we give a few topics
10 minutes (timed with a timer so one doesn't drag on too long) to
introduce us to something new or interesting. Maybe a few topics could
be given more time.

If we come to the RubyCamp with something prepared to share in 10 min,
I think we would be able to cover a lot of cool stuff. I like the idea
of posting the ideas on the wiki before the event and then voting when
we get there.

I'd like to see about half of the time set aside for hacking and
discussion.

It would be good if we could divide up into a few groups so newcomers
don't have to be overwhelmed by an advanced topic and advanced
rubyists don't have to sit through basic ruby stuff.

> (if you went to RubyCamp)
> * What did did we do well and we should keep doing?

I liked the open format of the camp.

>* What new stuff would you like to see us do at the next RubyCamp?

As dorky as name tags are, I think they could help us meet and get to
know each other a bit better.

--
Jimmy Z

[David Richards]

> I think the RubyCamp on Saturday went pretty well for a first
> shot at putting something like this together. About 20 people
> showed up (including some folks new to Ruby). We had
> several good sessions:

I really enjoyed that the new people came around. Seems that this
made things more exciting somehow.

> * learning Ruby and getting involved locally
> * deploying Rails Apps
> * intro to Ruby
> * intro to RSpec
> * working with DSLs
>
> There were certainly things that could have been improved
> though. I'd love to get some discussion going about how we
> can do better next time. (There were some good ideas put
> forward at our wrap-up, but I wanted to start this discussion
> with a blank slate so I'm not going to mention them here.)
>
> We're tentatively planning on another RubyCamp sometime
> in January. To make it as good as possible, please answer
> the following:
>
> * Is this even worth doing?

Absolutely!!!

>
> * When would be best for you?

I can make any time in January work for me.

>
> * What kind of topics would you like to talk about or work on?

Like what's been passed around, I'd like to break up into beginner and
advanced groups. I'd sure enjoy learning more practical stuff, stuff
that can help me clean up my code and stay productive.

>
> * What mix of discussion, hacking, and presentations do you
> want to see?

I'd enjoy more time hacking. Maybe a bit longer camp overall, and
possibly something as ambitious as a joint project.

Based on its reception at RubyConf, possibly some decent ping-pong
BDD? A group of 6 or 8 in 3 or 4 pairs. Possibly mix it up into two
sessions. Give someone newer to the language a chance to put their
hands on a keyboard and learn something. Give a chance to try out
some decent test/behavior-driven development. Maybe something
useful. Maybe this is too ambitious, but I learn by doing.

>
> (if you went to RubyCamp)
> * What did did we do well and we should keep doing?

I liked how open it was: better chance that we'd stay on topic, keep
people interested, and allow fresh ideas.

>
> * What didn't do well and we should stop doing?
>
> * What new stuff would you like to see us do at the next
> RubyCamp?
>
> --
> thanks,
> -pate
> -------------------------

> Duty makes us do things, Love make us do things well.http://on-ruby.blogspot.com http://on-erlang.blogspot.com
> http://on-soccer.blogspot.com