For Fans of Toronto’s Ruby on Rails Project Night…

Hey everyone and apologies for not getting this out to you sooner, but the Toronto Ruby on Rails Project Night will be taking an hiatus over July and August 2008. There are TONS of fantastic events going on for Ruby’ists this summer and, rather than try to steal people’s precious free time away from these, I’m going to lend a hand.

 

This means that Tuesday September 9th will mark the *glorious* return of the Toronto Ruby on Rails Project Night - anyone interested in getting involved, please email me at corecorina@hotmail.com ASAP. Thanks to everyone who has been contacting me with questions about the Project Night - see you in September!

In the meantime, please don’t forget to check my blog and torontoRB for updates about what’s going on this summer. The next big event I’m looking forward to will be RubyFringe, namely the kickoff party on Friday July 18th - stay tuned!

 

Another Round of Rails for Toronto Tech Crowd @ 6th Ruby on Rails Project Night

This past Tuesday June 10th I hosted the 6th monthly Ruby on Rails Project Night for the Toronto ‘Tech crowd’… with almost 50 in attendance (yet again!) it’s been fantastic to get such a great response every month, ever since the night first kicked off in January. There’s been many familiar faces in the crowd, but also plenty of news ones… and I’m so happy to hear that this has been a beneficial event for many newcomers to Toronto’s programming community. As some of you know, I began this event when I was working in the TSOT, Inc. offices as a way to help the company reach out to the tech community, particularly those working in Ruby on Rails. The event has grown into a Toronto-wide affair, and I am proud to host so many talented developers and members of the tech industry each month.

This June we again held our event in the TSOT, Inc. and IWD Canada office space, and a big thank you is due to Nelson and Dan for helping with the logistics. In the future we will be moving to a new venue, so please stay tuned to my blog or torontorb for all the exciting news. 

This month’s Ruby on Rails Project Night saw a great turn out from the entire community… in particular Unspace, who joined us as a drink sponsor in promotion of the upcoming RubyFringe conference in Toronto. Of course there is always lots of interest in the Project Night, and lots of questions about the presentation materials. Our presenters Mike Bowler (Gargoyle Software), Rowan Hick (work.rowanHick) and Libin Pan (LearnHub) brought a wealth of information on Enumerable, MERB, and RailsConf ’08.

Please visit the following links to see slides from the evening:

http://www.slideshare.net/mbowler/inside-enumerable

Mike Bowler (http://www.GargoyleSoftware.com) dove “Inside Enumerable”, looking at one of the most frequently used mixins to see how it works and how you use it. In order to explain Enumerable itself, he shared his expertise by looking into Mixins/Modules and case equality.

http://work.rowanhick.com/2008/06/11/toronto-rails-night-merb-presentation/

Rowan Hick (http://torontorb.ca) prepared a much anticipated presentation on “Merb, the Pocket Rocket framework.” As the framework for hackers, Rowan led an exploration of why Merb differs from Rails and how to get your feet wet in it.

http://rails.learnhub.com/lesson/page/2291-rails-conf2008-summary-review

Libin Pan (http://learnhub.com/) who is a regular at the Toronto RoR Project Night along with Wes and Carsten, brought us news and reviews from the recent RailsConf ‘08! He and his colleagues were fortunate enough to attend the recent Rails gathering in Portland and shared a taste of their experience with us.

As always, I owe much of the success of this event to people like Mike, Rowan, Andrew Burke, and all our dedicated presenters, as well as the overwhelming level of interest and support from the community. In the hopes of continuing the trend of success, I’m looking for interested presenters (as well as sponsors/suporters) to please get in touch with me atcorecorina@hotmail.com

Also, if you are interested in PR, promotion and marketing services for your company, feel free to get in touch with me; I am currently looking for new clients in the tech industry!

I look forward to the next Toronto Ruby on Rails Project Night, scheduled for Tuesday July 8th… Stay tuned to my blog and torontorb.ca for all the details, and thanks for another great evening.

Join Us in June for Toronto’s Ruby on Rails Project Night

This Tuesday June 10th marks the 6th Ruby on Rails Project Night for Toronto’s tech community. Join us for some fantastic presentations from top developers, as well as a RailsConf ‘08 review!

This month, Mike Bowler (http://www.GargoyleSoftware.com) will go “Inside Enumerable”. In his own words, his presentation will look at one of the most frequently used mixins and see how it works and how you use it. In order to explain Enumerable itself, he’ll share his expertise by looking into Mixins/Modules and case equality.

Rowan Hick (http://torontorb.ca) has also prepared a much anticipated presentation on “Merb, the Pocket Rocket framework.” As the framework for hackers, Rowan will lead an exploration of why Merb differs from Rails and how to get your feet wet in it.

Finally we will be joined by Libin Pan (http://learnhub.com/) who is a regular at the Toronto RoR Project Night; he will bring us news and reviews from the recent RailsConf ‘08! Libin and his colleagues were fortunate enough to attend the recent Rails gathering in Portland and will share his experience with our audience.

This event is free but space is limited: RSVP by emailing corecorina@hotmail.com . The Ruby on Rails Project Night is held at 151 Bloor Street West, Toronto and presentations begin at 6pm. BYOB!

Thank you to everyone who has already shown interest. We need presenters for July and August - please contact me ASAP!

See you Tuesday!

Corina
http://correlations.wordpress.com

Toronto Ruby on Rails Project Night Celebrates Fifth Monthly Success!

May 13th marked my Fifth Ruby on Rails Project Night for the Toronto programming community. This newly independent event is something I’ve taken on myself since leaving TSOT, Inc. and, with the help of many many friends and supporters, is held on the second Tuesday of every month. This event continues to draw a great crowd and I’m pleased to report that it’s starting to really get noticed: we’ll be featured on an upcoming segment on CTV news so look for it!

For May’s Ruby on Rails Project Night, we welcomed back Andrew Burke of ShinDig to discuss how to “Keep your Sanity With the Command Design Pattern”. A long time friend and supporter of the Ruby on Rails Project Night, Andrew joined us as a presenter for the very first event back in January. We hope to have him join us again soon! May’s event also included an indepth presentation on RSpec from Steven Baker, who discussed behaviour driven development; and finally, we were very pleased to have Paul Bloor of Idee Inc. join us to discuss his company’s highly successful Image Search APIs and how they are being used in different applications. A big thanks to all of our presenters for both their time and effort in the demos, as well as for their time in fielding questions from the audience. The Ruby on Rails Project Night is intended to open up the floor for all levels of developers and technical interests, and it’s been fantastic to see both new and familiar faces every month.

The next Ruby on Rails Project Night will be held on Tuesday June 10th, 2008, with details coming soon on my blog and of course at www.torontorb.ca - please add this fantastic new website to your favourites, as Rowan Hick has put together a great source for all Toronto-area Ruby Info. Along with the help of many volunteers, I host the Ruby on Rails Project Night each and every month as a way to generate excitement and energy about new tech projects in Toronto. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact me atcorecorina@hotmail.com or better yet, come see me at one of the events; I’m always interested in new presenters/sponsors/contributors!   

Thanks to all our supporters and see you June 10th!

Web 2.0 Expo-sure in San Fran

     I was lucky enough to score a free trip to San Francisco last week (first time there!) to attend the O’Reilly/CMP Web 2.0 Expo. An interesting event, even though the common theme seemed to be disappointment over the lack of end-customer contact at the Expo… However it was never really sold as a ‘consumer’ gathering. From what I understood, this was an industry-wide event giving new developers/ideas a chance to gain exposure in a VERY crowded market - and I suppose it delivered on that end!

    

In attending different social gatherings and sponsored sessions, I met tons of people from across the Western hemisphere who were looking for ways to expand their reach into the 2.0 market. The best part of the Expo for me was the encouraging feedback I received from most of the developers I met - many looking for a way to enter Toronto’s tech community and most actively seeking ways to promote their company and outsource their marketing/PR (hopefully, this will keep me in demand!)

Overall I wouldn’t recommend the Web 2.0 Expo unless your company has something clearly defined and ready to sell - although your end-users may not frequent these gatherings, most of your potential partnerships and widespread distribution channels have some sort of representation in attendance. It definitely takes more effort to make these meetings happen, but seeking out mutually interested businesses can help you to secure your position in the market by borrowing from the credibility of others. Everyone at the Expo seemed to come with open ears and were willing to lend them even to small fries like myself… whether or not you can afford to attend these events, they’re useful in creating a spirit of entrepreneurialism and excitement in an often jaded industry - that alone made my trip worthwhile

Another Cool TSOT Event for Toronto’s Ruby on Rails Community

This past Tuesday April 8^th, TSOT hosted the fourth Ruby on Rails Project Night in Toronto’s tech scene. The event was launched in January with the help of my (then) co-worker Joey DeVilla, and has since seen a great response from local programmer/developers. I’m really enjoying hosting these events, despite my lack of hard coding wisdom - I just happen to love technology and computers and all the people who work in webstuffs. April’s event continued in the spirit of innovative programming, this time offering ideas from both Java and Ruby on Rails together in the night’s presentations. Before anyone gets overly critical (you blogosphericals!) we’re trying to hi-light the ‘beauty’ of Ruby on Rails… the mashup is not intended to generalize

Mike Bowler, president of GargoyleSoftware.com, gave his third presentation in a series which, following last month’s lead, looks at meta-programming. Looking at Date.once, Mike explored more method dispatch and the notion of freezing objects.

Kristan ‘Krispy’ Uccello of Domainer.com joined us to introduce a little Java into the evening, and to explain “Web Development Demons: Why it can be hard to do something simple”. Using Domainer.com as an example, he looked at the challenge in building a new application that hosts and manages other web applications.

Luke Galea, past presenter and Technical Lead at mdlogix.com, returned to the TSOT stage to revisit the past and look at difficulties in using active resource. Luke was kind enough to re-address the migration number issue from his February presentation, and then demonstrated his recent project to replace active_record with active_resource.

I’m looking forward to TSOT’s next Ruby on Rails Project Night on Tuesday May 13^th, 2008, where Leila Boujnane of Idee Inc. and Andrew Burke of Shindig will join us. The event is free but space is limited; please email corecorina@hotmail.com to reserve a spot, or to inquire about becoming a presenter or sponsor.

A brief update to everyone re: April 8th TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night

A brief update to everyone registered for tomorrow’s TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night:

We are looking forward to a great evening, however there has been a slight change in our schedule for tomorrow night:

Mike Bowler (GargoyleSoftware.com) returns armed with a fist full of meta-programming as he looks at “Diving into meta-programming with Date.once”

Kristan ‘Krispy’ Uccello will examine the architecture and design of the Domainer.com platform as he investigates, “Web Development Demons: Why it can be hard to do something simple”.

And as part of our updated schedule…

Luke Galea from Medical Decision Logic, Inc. (mdlogix.com). Luke has agreed to revisit the migration number issue from his last presentation; but will also be presenting on ActiveResource, and his project to replace active_record with active_resource in the consolidation of Hospital research.

We regret that Leila Boujnane, co-founder and CEO of Idée Inc. (idéeinc.com), was called out of town. However, Leila will join us at our next event, May 13^th, to discuss and demonstrate her company’s highly successful image search APIs.

We thank you all for your ongoing support and interest – as always, if you would like to get involved as a presenter please email corina.newby@tsotinc.com or call (416) 908-6082.

See you tomorrow night!

Tuesday April 8th : TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night!

TSOT’s Ruby on Rails Project Night brings together the brightest minds in Toronto’s programming community for a night of dynamic presentations on the latest Ruby and Ruby on Rails projects.

This month we are proud to feature:

Mike Bowler (GargoyleSoftware) returns armed with a fist full of meta-programming as he looks at “Diving into meta-programming with Date.once”.

Kristan ‘Krispy’ Uccello will examine the architecture and design of the Domainer.com platform as he investigates, “Web Development Demons: Why it can be hard to do something simple”.

Leila Boujnane, co-founder and CEO of Idée Inc., will join us to discuss and demonstrate her company’s highly successful image search APIs.

We are also pleased to have Morph Labs and the Morph eXchange join us as our official drink sponsor for April’s event – therefore BYOB is only necessary in extreme cases! This event is free but space is limited; please reserve your spot by emailing corina.newby@tsotinc.com. If you would like to submit a presentation idea or learn about sponsorship opportunities at future TSOT events, please contact Corina at (416) 908-6082.

If you are interested in learning more about the Obie Fernandez workshops being offered on April 7th, please visit the TSOT events page to obtain your discount code. You can read more about these workshops at www.it360.ca

April 8th: TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night, April 7th: Obie Fernandez

 

This April is gearing up to be a fantastic month for Toronto Ruby on Rails Aficionados… TSOT, Inc. returns on April 8th with the fourth TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night, plus we have arranged an exciting opportunity for TSOT fans to attend the April 7th Obie Fernandez Ruby on Rails workshop! Our last event featured a host of dynamic presentations, and you can now view all past TSOT Ruby on Rails events on our website at www.tsotinc.com/events; we have also posted slides and links from our gracious presenters – Enjoy!

 

With the growing success of TSOT’s RoR event, we are pleased to announce that we have been invited to join the IT360 Conference being held in Toronto on April 7-9, 2008 as an “off-site” event (www.IT360.ca). TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night will be held on Tuesday April 8^th at the usual spot – the TSOT development office located at 151 Bloor Street West. We are also pleased offer two Ruby on Rails workshops hosted by Obie Fernandez, taking place at the IT360 Conference on Monday April 7^th. As a ‘loyal patron’ of the TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night, we are able to offer you a discounted rate for both the Obie Fernandez Ruby workshops, as well as the entire IT360 conference. Please see below for further details about the workshops and your TSOT discount code.

 

As for the TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night on April 8^th, we are pleased to have Morph Labs (www.morphexchange.com) join us as a drink sponsor (so BYOB is only necessary in extreme cases!) and the schedule of presenters will be released next week. We are expecting a great turn out, so please reserve your space TODAY by emailing corina.newby@tsotinc.com. We are also looking for future presenters; contact Corina at (416) 908-6082 if you are interested in getting involved.

 

Thank you again for your support and stay tuned for further details about April’s exciting event!

 

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Spend a Day With Obie Fernandez: Pioneer Ruby on Rails Developer!

It’s a Ruby on Rails extravaganza on April 7^th at IT360 Conference & Expo, the premier event for IT professionals. There are two educational tutorials (each 3 hours long) instructed by Obie Fernandez; read on for further details, including special pricing for fans of the TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night.

DATE: Monday April 7, 2008

PLACE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre (255 Front St. W)

===> Tutorial #1 ~ Ruby On Rails I

===> 9:00am – 12:00pm

Session Link: http://www.it360.ca/2008/session_detail.cfm?id=388

===> Tutorial #2 ~ Ruby On Rails II

===> 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Session Link: http://www.it360.ca/2008/session_detail.cfm?id=389

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COST and DISCOUNT INFO:

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As a TSOT fan, you receive a 25% discount.

So it’s only $373.50 to spend the day with Obie Fernandez! This includes both the morning and afternoon tutorials.

++ You must register with Code: EB25

++ Early bird rates have been extended for TSOT fans until April 6, 2008.

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MORE ABOUT THE TUTORIALS:

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Interest in Ruby on Rails has grown incredibly, as “Rails” has made its way into mainstream computing. Interest is growing in-part because of how much fun & productive programming can be when you use a framework that emphasizes common sense, elegance and readability. Obie Fernandez will present two tutorials based on his bestselling book, “The Rails Way”. The morning session provides a basic introduction to the main Rails concepts and programming techniques. In the afternoon, material will be given about effectively building and deploying real applications using Rails.

***Special Book Give-Away! Three attendees during each tutorial will win a free copy of Obie’s book, “The Rails Way”. Register today and you may be one of the six lucky winners.

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MORE ABOUT OBIE:

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Obie Fernandez, CTO of HashRocket, a boutique web consultancy and product shop in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Formerly, a senior consultant at ThoughtWorks, specializing in complex custom enterprise software projects, Obie is a pioneer Ruby on Rails developer and author of best selling book, “The Rails Way”. He contributes regularly to the Ruby on Rails podcast, and is editor for Ruby community portals.

TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night - March Success and April Update

TSOT recently held another successful installment of their monthly Ruby on Rails Project Night for Toronto’s tech community. The highly anticipated event was the third of its kind for TSOT, Inc., local developer of scalable peer-to-peer networks, and over 40 of Toronto’s ‘tech elite’ were in attendance. With a variety of dynamic presentations on a broad range of projects in Ruby and Ruby on Rails, the TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night delivers a unique opportunity for the Toronto programming and development community.

This month’s TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night welcomed a host of presentations from various Toronto developers, including both fun and functional applications being built in Ruby on Rails. Mike Bowler, president of Gargoyle Software and previous presenter, returned to share his technical wisdom on “Exploring the magic behind dynamic finders: diving into ActiveRecord::Base.method_missing”. Following this, local developers Robin Ward and Mike Drach brought their unique sense of internet humour to the table with a look at “RJS: a love and hate affair” in their work with the online RPG ‘Forumwarz’. Finally the feature presenter for the evening Ilya Grigorik, Chief Architect at aideRSS, Inc., demonstrated the challenges involved in “Taming the RSS beast” related to the launch of www.aideRSS.com. Given the balance between technical expertise and innovative ideas, the evening’s presentations struck a very positive chord, with audience members eager to take the opportunity to ask questions, share solutions, and discuss the challenges associated with each of these dynamic Ruby on Rails projects.

The third installment of the TSOT Ruby on Rails Project Night this Tuesday was a great success and given the positive response from those in attendance, this unique event will continue to build a loyal following in the tech community. The monthly event takes place on the second Tuesday of every month, returning on April 8th, 2008 to the TSOT development office at 151 Bloor Street West, Toronto. Doors open at 5:30pm and presentations begin at 6:00pm. This event is free but space is limited; if you are interested in attending, please reserve your spot by emailing corina.newby@tsotinc.com. If you would like to submit a presentation idea or learn about sponsorship opportunities at future events, please contact Corina at (416) 908-6082