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

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

Here’s a copy of Matt’s prototype.js presentation

And a few links from Jon so you can learn more about Git without a trip to your local library:

Linus Tolvalds on Git

GIT Peepcode

Git on Rails screencast

Git-SVN Crash Course

Be a man and migrate your SVN repo to GIT

Handy Git aliases

show the current branch name in your prompt

I would like to, again, thank James Robertson for coming down to Richmond to talk about Smalltalk. I was very happy with the talk - everyone seemed really interested - questions were even asked!

James covered some basic Smalltalk stuff: syntax, reserved words, operators, image-based environment, browsers. He then pulled out a Seaside demo, complete with some in-web-browser debugging. [I'm thinking I should have taken some notes during the talk so that I can write a better review.]

It was nice seeing Smalltalk in action, one of the Grand daddies of dynamic languages. Remember, though Smalltalk is roughly 30 years old, from it came: Refactoring support, SUnit - which spawned JUnit, Edit & Continue - the ability to work with live code in a debugger, and, of course, MVC. I'm sure there are more items.

James brought and left a few CDs with VisualWorks 7.5, non-commercial version, preloaded. Contact either Mel Riffe or Matt Overstreet for information on obtaining a copy; he also sent a few with the visiting Charlottesville crew (thanks for coming out guys - excellent questions)

Feel free to add your review in the comments. Cheers!

Our January 8th Meeting will be Smalltalk Night.

James Robertson has been involved with Smalltalk, in one role or another, for quite some time. He's coming down to show off Cincom's VisualWorks Smalltalk offering, including a little bit of Seaside.

On the Cincom Smalltalk site you will also find links to Podcasts and daily Smalltalk screencasts; there's a wealth of information ready for consumption. Helpful Links:

• One Page Syntax Primer
• Cincom Smalltalk
• Cincom Smalltalk Downloads
• Getting started in Seaside and Visual Works
• Squeak
• Avi Bryant on TWiT; creator of Seaside
• Google Search on Smalltalk

Smalltalk has influenced many programming languages, Ruby in particular. In my opinion it is the premier language for Dynamic languages. Many of the ideas and concepts in Ruby were first implemented in Smalltalk. Come join us for what hopes to be a fantastic trip down memory lane and a glimpse into the future.

Head on over to the Upcoming.org Event and let us know you'll be joining us: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/379603.

February 12th Meeting Preview...

To be announced.

Our December 11th Meeting will be 'Open Mic' Night.

Take 10-15 minutes to talk about any topic you desire. In the vein of the Lightning talks held at Conferences come share your stories.

Need some ideas:

• Working with a new tool (i.e. git)?
• Starting a new project?
• Solved a tricky problem?
• Reflect on the year
• Working with another technology/language?
• Got a Stand-up Routine

Head on over to the Upcoming.org Event and let us know you'll be joining us: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/335310/.

January 8th Meeting Preview...

Come join us January 8th where James Robertson, Product Evangelist, former Product Manager, from Cincom will give a talk about VisualWorks Smalltalk.

Join us next week for a good old fashioned code jam. Bring a project, jump into one or make a suggestion in the google group (http://groups.google.com/group/CVRuby).

Head out to upcoming to sign up and we’ll see you there!

Eric Pugh from OpenSource Connections will be demoing anything he can think of, including the incredible awesomeness that is Lego Mindstorm and how he’s working with it from Ruby.

Sign up on upcoming if you plan on attending!