Looks like I’m not the only one who brought an instrument to RailsConf…
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Ground Kontrol
Someone suggested on the #railsconf IRC channel that we have some evening festivities at a place called Ground Kontrol, a “barcade” featuring a reasonable-looking selection of beers and an amazing (and nostalgia-inducing, for those of us who grew up in the ’80s) selection of video games and pinball machines. The DJ offerings for this weekend also sound pretty promising to this late 30-something nerd’s ears.
Ground Kontrol is located at 511 NW Couch St. (here are directions from the convention center), and will be open until 2:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday night. Anyone interested in checking this place out?
I’m spending today, the optional “tutorial sessions: day at RailsConf, in Dave Thomas’ and Mike Clark’s all-day Rails Guidebook tutorial, a whirlwind tour of both Ruby and Rails. This sesssion is normally worth hundreds of dollars, but Dave and Mike charged only US$75 per attendee, with all the proceeds going to charity (they’ve raised a total of over US$12,000 today).
Dave gave the funny line of the morning early in the session: “XML…the language of the Devil!”
Mike Clark and Dave Thomas at their “Rails Guidebook” tutorial.
Most of the morning was devoted to the Ruby programming language itself, with about an hour of the basics of Rails. We’re now in the afternoon half, which is devoted to a more in-depth look at what goes into a Rails app and what Rails gives you, the developer. “for free”.
Dave also gave the funny line of the afternoon: “If we sound bitter, it’s because we have customers.”
Mike Clark and Dave Thomas at their “Rails Guidebook” tutorial.
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RailsConf Pictures on Flickr
Me playing at the Lucky Labrador last night.
Looking for pictures of RailsConf? Check out the Flickr tags RailsConf and RailsConf2007.
The third installment of the RailsEnvy guys’ series of “I’m a Mac”-style ads (see this earlier article for more) features Rails vs. PHP once again, this time on file organization:
The “a place for everything and everything in its place” file layout of Rails is a wonderful thing, and something Adam Keys made very clear in his presentation at last year’s RailsConf.
For those of you who are wondering what to do before or after RailsConf or between sessions, here are some suggestions:
Planet Argon’s “Portland Revealed” Articles
Over at the Planet Argon Blog, there’s a series of articles called Portland Revealed that visitors should read:
- Part 1: Episode 1
- Part 2: Beertown
- Part 3: Get Ourdoors
- Part 4: Stay Awake During RailsConf
- Part 5: Places to Work
James Duncan Davidson: RailsConf on Light Rail
James Duncan Davidson wrote a little piece on how to get from the airport to downtown Portland cheaply — by taking the MAX, the light rail system. It’s only fitting that you travel to RailsConf by rail!
RailsConf Online Notices
You can also find out what’s happening online in a few places:
- The O’Reilly RailsConf 2007 Wiki is at http://wiki.oreillynet.com/wiki/railsconf2007/
- There’s an independent RailsConf 2007 Conference Meetup site at http://railsconf2007.conferencemeetup.com/
- And what geek conference doesn’t have an IRC backchannel? RailsConf has one on irc.freenode.net — the channel is #railsconf.
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“Hi, I’m Ruby on Rails…”
Since there’s considerable overlap between the Cult of Mac and the Cult of Rails, it was inevitable some Rails enthusiasts would make Rails advocacy videos borrowing from the style of the popular “I’m a Mac / I’m a PC” ads.
Gregg Pollack and Jason Seifer of the blog Rails Envy are posting a series of Rails-themed “I’m a Mac”-style videos, one each day leading up to RailsConf, in order to get everyone fired up for the conference.
Here’s yesterday’s ad, in which Java plays the “PC” role:
Here’s today’s ad, in which PHP — who bears a strange resemblance to Java — is the PC: