CVREG - Home

Closing out 2008

2008-12-24T17:17:00Z

Parting Thoughts

As the year draws to a close we’d like to Thank all that have made this a wonderful year: Presenters, Sponsors, and most of all the Members.

Meetings

We look forward to the meetings as a time to see new faces and socialize with the awesome folks and hear about some cool technology, tools, or techniques.

Though we try to same Ruby-centric, we’re not shy to learn about something new (or old, in the case of Smalltalk) that could make us better developers and help the community, at large.

We have exciting meetings planned for 2009. Keep an eye on the website for information. Is there a topic you’d like to see? Send your suggestions via the mailing list (http://groups.google.com/group/CVRuby).

Resources

Remember, when you have a Ruby question (or any technology for that matter) we have a lot of helpful people on the mailing list(http://groups.google.com/group/CVRuby) and in the #rubycodejam IRC channel. Also, questions are welcomed at the meetings.

Not only do we love the technology we enjoy helping people; we’ve been were you’re at.

Technologies

We’re reminded often how close to the bleeding edge we are here at CVREG. What now seems old-hat to many of us, many more are just now learning about: GitHub, Sinatra, iPhone Development, TDD/BDD.

Just this year, we’ve had two Smalltalk meetings; and hope to have more, especially when MagLev becomes available.

Future

2009, we feel, is going to be another wild and crazy ride. Here’s to making 2009 another spectacular year for the CVREG.

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday.

The CVREG Steering Committee.

2009's Schedule...

2008-12-02T04:31:00Z

We have some exciting talks lined up, already, for next year. We're always open to Topic suggestions; send them on in, via the mailing list is A-OK.

So, let's see what's in store for the first quarter

Date	Topic	Speaker(s)
13 Jan	Continuous Integration	Eric Pugh
10 Feb	Solr	Erik Hatcher
10 Mar	Erlang	Kevin Smith
10 Mar	Scrum Pad	Syed Rayhan

We're hoping to get Syed to come out in March since illness caused us to cancel the November meeting.

We know schedules can change last minute and we'll do our best to keep everyone informed of any changes. However, plan to attend and bring your questions.

December's Meeting: Jim Van Fleet/Open-Mic

2008-12-02T04:06:00Z

Come join us 9 Dec to hear Jim Van Fleet present on maintaining balance between various competing factors.

Please join us on 9 Dec to hear Jim Van Fleet, CVREG creator, talk about maintaining one’s balance in an environment where competing factors can easily overwhelm.

Abstract

Being a developer is all about balance. Balancing code quality, testing coverage, business and client needs, performance in production, and working with other’s code in an environment of rapid and significant change is why we get paid the big bucks. But what happens when that balance is upset?

Bio

Jim Van Fleet, Community Developer from TradeKing, will take a look at this question and offer some tips to help you keep your project on the right track to deliver a successful launch during development so that you aren’t scrambling when that first wave of new users hits.

Open Mic

After Jim’s presentation I’d like to open the meeting to you. Let us know how your Ruby year progressed.

Meeting Details

Can be found on Upcoming.com: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1403823/

Last meeting of the year...

2008-11-26T04:48:00Z

In a couple of weeks we’re going to have the last meeting of the year. Jim Van Fleet has graciously accepted our invitation to give a talk; details will follow in a separate post. However, I would also like to invite anyone and everyone to give their Ruby Retrospective during the meeting.

What is a Ruby Retrospective, you may ask. Well I’d like to know what you did with Ruby in 2008. I’ll share my Ruby adventures; I’ll also share my Ruby plans for next year. Side-projects, for-pay-projects, web apps, SA utilities, what ever.

I’d also like to hear suggestions for meeting topics. Which reminds me – I’ll also be posting some of next year’s schedule. We have some excellent talks planned out to April.

Look for the next couple of posts to detail next month’s meeting and the 2009 schedule, as it exists today.

Cheers, Mel

Today's meeting has been cancelled

2008-11-11T17:40:00Z

Due to a highly infectious group (many of us are laid out with the cold), we’ll be rescheduling our current guest if possible. We have lots planned for the next few months so please keep an eye on the site or upcoming group!

Hope everyone has a great Turkey day!

November Meeting Details

2008-11-07T02:36:00Z

Syed Rayhan, of Code71, will be talking about ScrumPad, a web-based Agile/Scrum project management tool.. Come join us on 11 November (that's Tuesday of next week) at 6:00 PM.

Abstract

ScrumPad (http://www.scrumpad.com) is Web-based Agile/Scrum project management and collaboration tool. It was developed on Ruby on Rails as Software as a Service (SaaS). Recently, he migrated ScrumPad from Rails 1.2.x to Rails 2.x. It is deployed in the Amazon cloud (Amazon Web Services, a.k.a. AWS). AWS offers a set of IT infrastructure like compute power, storage, and other as a services. As a result, the cost of infrastructure truly becomes a variable cost. The business applications running on AWS can be dialed up and down to match its fluctuating load in real-time. ScrumPad is using Amzon's EC2, S3, EBS, and SQS. He will share his experience using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Rails migration.

Bio

After twelve years of designing multi-faceted IT solutions for financial services companies, Syed H. Rayhan, co-founder of Code71, is putting his skills to the test by leading the company to provide a comprehensive suite of development, maintenance, and support services to a growing list of clients.

Syed holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flagler Business School, as well as, an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida and an undergraduate degree from BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering. Syed is a member of the Scrum Alliance and is co-author of Enterprise Java with UML (pub. Wiley & Sons). His current interests is building in Agile fashion Enterprise 2.0 solutions running in the Cloud.

Free Conference Pass: Voices that matter, Professional Ruby

2008-10-02T17:07:00Z

Good News Everybody!

In our October meeting we will be giving away a free conference pass to the upcoming Addison-Wesley “Voices That Matter: Professional Ruby Conference”. We’ll also have information on discounts for CVreg members at the meeting. Make sure you sign up for the meeting on upcoming.org to be eligible.

Save the Date: Voices That Matter: Professional Ruby Conference

Technical awareness and use of Ruby is skyrocketing, allowing it to quickly become the most prominent, intriguing, and dynamic programming language around. This conference will introduce you to leading Addison-Wesley Ruby and Rails authors who are living and breathing these ground-breaking technologies every day. Experience exciting keynotes, stimulating conference sessions and case studies, with lots of time built in for informational discussions networking and code sharing. Click below to learn more about joining us November 17-20 in Boston. http://www.voicesthatmatter.com/ruby2008/

MagLev and Seaside from GemStone

2008-09-27T03:24:00Z

Details for the 14 October Meeting. Invite your friends and join us for an exciting presentation by James Foster of GemStone.

Update Time: 6:00PM Location: Strategy Cafe’ Offices (click here for a map)

Overview

James Foster of GemStone will be in town to give his talk about MagLev and GLASS[1] for our October meeting.

From his website you can read about, and view videos, of his Road Show. He’s visited the Midwest and he’s in our area for a while before heading to OOPSLA.

Presentation

In this presentation, James Foster will give a brief demo of MagLev, then introduce Smalltalk, GemStone/S (a Smalltalk implementation that has built-in persistence and multi-user, multi-machine scalability), and the web framework Seaside. We will see how Seaside handles the “Back button problem” and provides a rich, component-based approach to OO web development.

James’ Bio

While in junior high in 1971, James Foster discovered computers at the local university and has delighted in building things and sharing his discoveries ever since. He learned Smalltalk in the mid-1990s, and became a passionate advocate for object technologies and agile methods. James is on the Smalltalk Engineering team at GemStone Systems, Inc., and regularly presents on technical topics (last month at ESUG in Amsterdam and next month at OOPSLA in Nashville).

I pulled the presentation and bio details from James’ website. The full article can be found here: http://programminggems.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/september-road-show/ I encourage you to read the entire post if you’ve not heard of Seaside, Smalltalk, GemStone or MagLev.

¹ ”GLASS” is an acronym for GemStone, Linux, Apache, Seaside, and Smalltalk.

Shenandoah Ruby Users Group Special Event

2008-09-25T15:22:00Z

Coming up September 30th, Rich Kilmer, Marcel Molina and Mark Gardner from InfoEhter will be the main speakers. The meeting is in Harrisonburg. Head out to meetup to signup or for more information http://ruby.meetup.com/128/

Meeting news

2008-09-09T04:41:00Z

Come meet us at the Strategy Cafe offices (2421 Westwood Ave Suite C) and around 6pm we’ll be headed down to the Triple (pool/beer/bar food).

Hope to see you there.

Rinse and repeat

2008-08-11T14:31:00Z

Tuesday Aug 11. We’ll be meeting at the Strategy Cafe offices (there’s a map at upcoming) and headed over to the Triple for libations, conversations, and pool.

Hope to see you there!

let us know your coming

geek chat and pool

2008-07-07T15:52:00Z

It’s that time again. Join us Tuesday July 8. We’ll be meeting at the Strategy Cafe offices (there’s a map at upcoming) and headed over to the Triple for libations, conversations, and pool.

Hope to see you there!

June CVREG Meeting

2008-06-09T13:19:00Z

On Tuesday, June 10, 2008 come to Strategy Cafe for the June CVREG meeting! The main attraction is Jon Maddox's reflections on RailsConf '08. Register your intention to attend on upcoming.org. See you there!

May Code jam

2008-05-08T14:45:00Z

UPDATE: The May code jam has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We’ll see everyone on the second Tuesday in June!

See you on Tuesday May 13 for a Ruby and Rails code jam. Bring projects and questions for this informal get together.

let us know you are coming here:

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/609617

Time for the April Social

2008-04-04T14:06:00Z

It’s time for a social!

Join us on Tuesday at Capital Ale House in Richmond’s West End for light banter about Ruby, Rails and Related topics.

Let us know you’ll be there