Software Development Study Group - Ruby On Rails with Marina Fedner

Even though I didn't work the prerequisites (more on that later) and I still hadn't really grasped Ruby, I left last night's study group with my first Ruby on Rails project running last night.

Marina set out to help us get a simple Ruby on Rails application working. We learned about the basic configuration of Ruby on Rails, how MVC works, how to hook Ruby on Rails to a database using SQLLite, and how the basic conventions fit together to make a Ruby on Rails project come together. I guess it's a testimate to both the choice of materials and Ruby on Rails itself, that even I, who talked most of the night, was able to get the application running before 7:00 pm (we ran a little late last night).

We had one small problem, only a few people worked the prerequisites. This was a combination of not knowing, since not everyone wasn't subscribed to the email or twitter updates, and being lazy, such as Ben and Chris. It's important that people try to work the prerequisites if they can, but I think in general, if you have to start with the prerequisites when you get to study group, then that's OK as well. That worked out fine last night, everyone worked at there own pace and Marina was available to help us when we got stuck. Some got a lot farther than others, but in the end, everyone learned a whole bunch about Ruby on Rails that they didn't already know. Keeping with our focus of one hour of learning time a week means that it's OK to skip your homework (except Ben and Chris).

Last night was our biggest study group in the history of study group (4 weeks). I like to think it was the topic and the speaker, but it might have been the email blast from Stout Systems (pretty much all the new people except for two said they had heard about us from a Stout email blast from last week).

I have to say that Marina learning Ruby on Rails earlier this year was one of the inspirations for study group. I realized how many things I was missing out on because I wasn't taking extra time to learn each week. Now, having set aside 1 hour a week for learning time, I've learned a whole bunch in the last four weeks and can't wait for the next four.

Next week is Silverlight with Brian Genesio. I hear he's going to have us build a Twitter client in Silverlight. Just a rumour though.