Next Tuesday is the second Tuesday of the month, which means: Ruby/Rails Project Night, hosted by TSOT!

The Quick Version

• When: Tuesday, February 12th, 2008:
  • Doors open around 5:30 p.m.
  • Presentations begin sometime between 6 – 6:30 p.m.
  • Arrive early to get fed!
• Where: TSOT developer office, 151 Bloor Street West (just east of Avenue Road), Suite 1130
• Admission: FREE (but please register!)
• Register with: Corina Newby or Joey deVilla

About Ruby/Rails Project Night

Ruby/Rails Project Night is a Toronto-area gathering held at the TSOT developer office on the second Tuesday of every month. It’s an event that lets people developing projects in either Ruby or Ruby on Rails show them off in front of their peers in 20-30 minute presentations. Presenters are encouraged to go into as much technical detail as they like (even showing the code, if they’re so inclined) and cover all sorts of aspects of their projects, from programming issues to visual design and usability to the business of making a living off their software.

Whether you code in Ruby and Rails for a living like we do, dabble in it in your spare time or are just curious as to what the fuss is all about, we encourage you to come to our office next Tuesday for Ruby/Rails Project Night! It’s a chance for you to see software that’s being developed right here in town and to mingle with other developers interested in Ruby and Rails. We provide food and drink, so you can focus on the presentations and not your grumbling stomach.

Who’s Presenting

Yours Truly will start the night with an opening monologue to get things going, after which I’ll be followed the the evening’s main presentations:

• How to Avoid Hanging Yourself in Rails, by Rowan Hick. This presentation is subtitled “or: Optimizing Your ActiveRecord Associations”.
• EasyBrandingTools.com: Mike Bowler and Steve Vetzal will talk about their project that helps new businesses be memorable.
• CRMS – Clinical Research Management System. Luke Galea will present this project, a Rails and Prolog/XSB application that manages drug and procedure trials at some of the biggest hospitals in the U.S..

What Happened at the Last Ruby/Rails Project Night?

Click the photo to see it on its Flickr page.

Check out this article, which has a quick write-up and photos.

Tonight is TSOT’s first monthly Ruby/Rails Project Night, where we invite the local developer community into our offices to see presentations on Ruby and Rails development and socialize. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers:

• Yours Truly, on the lessons and challenges of Zed Shaw’s rant
• Andrew Burke on the business and technical aspects of his current Rails project
• Hampton Catlin on Ziplocal.com
• Mike Ferrier on The Score’s iPhone application

The event will take place at TSOT’s office — 151 Bloor Street West (on the south side, just east of Avenue Road), suite 1130. The doors open at 5:30 p.m., during which time we’ll serve food. Presentations start at 6-ish, with breaks in between and some time for socializing afterwards. Admission is free, but space is limited — to register, please email joey.devilla@tsotinc.com.

The resemblance is uncanny, isn’t it?
Zed Shaw photo by Adewale Oshineye — click the photo to see it on its Flickr page.

By now, most Rails developers — and even a number of people who couldn’t care less about Rails — have read Zed Shaw’s infamous rant titled Rails is a Ghetto. It’s given me a lot to think about, and as a result, I’m changing my presentation topic at Tuesday’s TSOT Ruby/Rails Project Night to Rant Said Zed: I’m Too Sexy for my Rails (or: Lessons and Challenges from Zed Shaw’s Rant). I promise that it’ll be both informing and entertaining.

• Want to know more about Tuesday’s TSOT Ruby/Rails Project Night, which takes place this Tuesday, January 8th? See this entry.
• Want to sign up? Email me!

Aside: A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane

How can I reference Right Said Fred without showing you the video for their one hit?