Damage Control - A practical guide to getting started with Merb (talk proposal)

[sintaxi]

"Damage Control" is designed to deliver the most "useful" information
in the least amount of time. In other words, make Merb less
intimidating as possible. As a result no topic will be covered in
depth, but everything that is important to getting started with Merb
will likely be mentioned. Because of time restrictions, I will likely
offer my experiences/suggested-methods of working with merb rather
than trying to encompass everything. Example of topics that I will
discuss...

== Into/Configuration
- describe what the official Merb gems are.
- difference between a Gem, Plugin, and Slice
- choosing an ORM
- Testing (perhaps write a spec, make it pass)

== Gotchas
- syntax/architecture changes from Rails
- common issues (eg. including merb-assets in order to get link_to)

== Javascript
- your options on how to use Javascript with Merb
- quick start on using JQuery unobtrusively

== Deployment
- Rack, your server options
- quick demonstration of how to deploy using Capistrano

*references to more detailed information will be provided for each
topic

I encourage feedback on this submission. If there are other ways I can
be of use at MerbCamp, I am open to suggestions.

Brock Whitten (sintaxi)
Vancouver, Canada

[Matt Aimonetti]

Hey Brock, sorry for the late reply. Is that 1 proposal or many
proposals :)

Talks are 20 minutes + transition time. Whichever talks won't be
accepted in the "official" track can be done in the "unofficial"
track(s).

jQuery and Deployments seem like 2 subjects people are really
interested in hearing more about. Would you mind choosing one of the
two? Note that if you cover jQuery, you'd need to cover more that the
UJS aspect of jquery, but more how to use it with Merb (including the
plugin for it), how is it different from Proto etc...

I also added a talk suggestion for Merb gotchas, which I personally
think is a good ideal.

-Matt

[Lon Baker]

One hurdle most developers coming from Rails to Merb encounter is
reliance on Plugins.

Perhaps a talk on:

- The differences between plugins in Rails and Merb (gems vs. plugins?)
- The merb way and why you need to confine plugins to the official API
- What exists, where to look and how to migrate plugins to Merb
- Identifying easily migrated ones, those confined to ActiveRecord for
example vs. ones nestled in the depths of Rails.
- Impact of plugins on Merb performance

Sorry if I am coming in the middle of this.

Not sure if I would be a good one to talk about this. I think it would
be a good discussion to have.

Btw, I am happy to volunteer to help in anyway I can.

FYI. I can bring a DLP Projector if one is needed by anyone.

--
Lon Baker

[Ben Reubenstein]

+1 for this talk.  Definitely something I would like to know more about as I work more with Merb.

--
Ben Reubenstein
303-947-0446
Xcellent Creations, Inc.
http://www.x-cr.com

[sintaxi]

Thanks for your freedback. This talk was designed to be a 1 hour crash
course on how to use merb. I was not aware that talks were to be 20
min. I will think more about how I can change this. Perhops I should
be either cover the first section where I talk about configuration/
architecture of Merb OR talk just about using jQuery unobtrusively(in
addition to someone else's jquery talk). any thoughts?

-brock

[Patrick Crowley]

> Thanks for your freedback. This talk was designed to be a 1 hour crash
> course on how to use merb. I was not aware that talks were to be 20
> min. I will think more about how I can change this. Perhops I should
> be either cover the first section where I talk about configuration/
> architecture of Merb OR talk just about using jQuery unobtrusively(in
> addition to someone else's jquery talk). any thoughts?

Hey, brock.

While we're breaking the talks into 30 minute chunks (roughly 20 - 25
minutes, then a few minutes for switching over), that's not
completely set in stone.

- You could do two talks, but do them back to back.

- You could also do your talk during the Merb workshop we're planning
for folks who are just getting started with Merb.

- Maybe you could do a speed version of your talk during the main
track, and do another, slower version during the rejectconf track off
the main stage.

-- Patrick

[joahking]

hey great work guys
question though: will all talks accepted and "unofficial" recorded and
published?

is just that here in Europe we wont like to miss anything (since I
cannot make it to
be there)

keep on the good work

[Matt Aimonetti]

Hey Joah,

 Unless you send a fat check by October 1st, we will only record and publish the "official" talks from the main room :(

 We understand that not everyone can make it (San Diego is a bit far for some) and that's why we've investigated the option to record and publish the talks. But a conference like this one has a cost and so far we are not not even sure how many people will show up!

Don't forget it's the first Merb event ever! And version 1.0 should be released during the conf!!!

We'll do our best to cover the event and who knows, maybe schedule a Merb Camp Europe in Barcelona next year!

-Matt

[Joaquin Rivera Padron]

hey matt,
pretty sorry about the dough ;-) but lots of karma I do am sending already

Barcelona would be cool, I'll forward the comment on Madrid.rb (I live in Madrid) to see what people think, maybe there's some Barcelona.rb I could tell

so, lots of luck on MerbCampo!

jk

2008/9/4 Matt Aimonetti <mattai...@gmail.com>