Scotland on Rails 2009

1 April mmm... while it is not yet self evident I should by now have an all singing and dancing website. In fact maybe I should have two, since the conference score is currently:

DRUPAL :1 (Drupalcon Szeged 2008) Ruby and Rails :2 (Scotland on Rails 2008 & 2009)

Having just returned from Edinburgh and three days of presentation magic - not only were the speakers experts and leaders they all knew how to present - it's time for me to reflect a little.

I took something away from ALL the presentations as I attended 'a full stream' mostly the sessions in the main hall. Jim Weirich's session on Building Blocks of Modularity was very interesting informatically, holistically and clinically as he explained and referenced “connascence”:

An examination of the concept of “connascence” and building modular programs.

Connascence: n.
* The common birth of two or more at the same time; production of two or more together.
* That which is born or produced with another.
* The act of growing together.

Connascence: undoubtedly a concept to add to 'consilience'.

Whether using Drupal or Ruby - Rails I'm conscious that you can create a website very quickly. As already ack. here last summer in Hungary Dan and James advised that I get something together and publish the beta. On Saturday Steven A Bristol stressed the same:

1. Identify the essential thing you have to offer through a website / application;
2. do not wait until it is 'finished';
3. - speaking of which are you a techie or designer? Find the partner(s) you need, people are rarely both;
4. ensure you include a feedback mechanism - not just e-mail;
5. and 'get it out there'.

In their session Kevin McDonagh and Joseph Wright added that it is a waste of time appealing to the World. Of course Kevin did not realise how painful it was for me to hear that, but since this is certainly true - I have appealed to the world - it was very therapeutic. Unlike Kevin and Joseph's Green Map as a Community Project I'm not sure if whether I can appeal to the local community (despite an interest in ecology).

Like Drupal the Ruby community is a terrific group of people - welcoming, supportive, cohesive - a bunch of real humans. The charity tutorial day raised £7,000 for CHAS the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland.

After Dave Thomas presented a fascinating keynote on the Ruby Object Model, Erin Staniland and Tim Harding confirmed I've the basic building blocks in place to create and execute a Rails application on my MacBook.

I am hooked on Drupal and Ruby. Some of the keywords and structures in Ruby are dangerous in their appeal - more on this to follow...

Driving (ironically) back to NW England I realised Earth Hour was in progress, hopefully there will be another one. That night Orion was beautiful chasing a fresh smiling new moon along the way...

Images: thanks to SoR site and Fraser Spiers

P.S. Kevin - I owe you a beer towards the taxi Friday night!