RubyConf 2007 – Day One

2007-11-02

Hello from Charlotte! I’ll be updating this post all day with random thoughts.

9:22am – If energy could be generated from t-shirts with nerdy quotes, this place could power the sun.

10:45 – Interesting talk from Jim Weirich on “how to parse without parsing”. Great mind twist on how to use Ruby’s dynamic nature to solve problems in a different manner than you might with Java/C++.

12:37 – Don’t look but there’s a fat nerd playing a lute at 3 o’clock.

1:30 – Next up: a talk on the Camping micro-framework. Your webapp built in 30 minutes or less or your money back. Speaker’s point: micro-frameworks are creative alternatives to the “big guys” like Rails and provide genetic diversity to the Ruby ecosystem.

2:23 – AP4R – a bit dry. The speaker does not speak English (well); it’s a straightforward description of a messaging system built in Ruby which is intended to replace their home-grown Java component.

3:38 – Nifty. Treetop is a next generation parsing framework. Looks similar to the JavaCC-based EDI parser I wrote years ago but supposedly has some tricky new algorithms that give it a tangy goodness, read the link for eyeball-bleeding parser-speak.

6:50 – Buzzed on local microbrewery sampler? Check. Jittery on giant Starbucks mocha? Check. We are locked and loaded for the Friday night keynote. Bring it on, Matz!

10:43 – Played my first and second game of Werewolf. My permanent smirk proves to be a huge disadvantage as Chad Fowler decides I’m untrustworthy and kills me instead of the actual werewolf. Alas.