I am a little late in posting this but I wanted to post my thoughts on the last day and the overall conference. I was a little "talked out" by the third day so I only ended up only going to a couple of talks
Advanced DSLs in Ruby
Neal Ford did an excellent job talking about how to build DSLs in Ruby and true to the name of the talk he didn't just cover the basics, he dug down into various techniques you can use to build a good DSL in Ruby. There is a great write-up of the talk over here, and Neal has posted his slides over here.
The Ruby Code Review. A Play in Three Acts
This was a very entertaining talk with Jim Weirich and Chris Nelson. I worked with both of these guys on my last contract but when Chris and I ran into each other we couldn't place where we knew each other from since we weren't wearing ties and in the right context. The talk was basically a mock code review of Chris showing very poorly tested and written code to Jim. It was a blast to watch and a good re-inforcement of good testing and coding principles.
I spent the rest of the day getting ready to head out and then had a great conversation with John Nunemaker. John and I have alot in common and I had a great time exchanging ideas and brainstorming about our various projects.
The conference was over and I headed back to the order with my free ride (Fred) and hung out at the airport with Matthew Bass and Ryan Daigle until out plane left.
Overall it was an amazing conference, I am already thinking about next year. It was great to meet most of the members of Ruby Row and many of the other developers I have run into over the last year. One thing that I would totally love to see next year (like Jamis) is an open spaces track that would let people self-organize some great conversations and presentations about their projects. Like most conferences the best times are usually in the halls chatting with people or peering over their laptop to see what they are working on.
-James
