Ruby On Rails for the Flex Developer Video

July 6th, 2006

The London Flash Platform User Group has posted up a video of my talk last month. You can find it here.

There is a little dodgy part where due to a dodgy internet connection my screenshots of Ruby On Rails sites don’t show. Good for a laugh though as i use the SmackBook

Ruby On Rails for the Flex Developer Presentation

July 1st, 2006

Last weeks presentation at the “London Flash Platform User Group” was great fun and it seemed like lots of people got really interested in Ruby On Rails as a result.

For your delectable delight here is a PDF of the presentation I gave. There isn’t much content in it as I go for the presentation style that the presenter is the content and the slides are just backing.

But there should be a video of that presentation coming soon and i’ll link to it so I can be laughed at by all.

Ruby On Rails at the London Flash Platform User Group

June 15th, 2006

Yours truly will be giving a little talk at the London Flash Platform User Group on Thursday 22nd June

Ruby On Rails for the Flex Developer (20:15 – 21:15) – Stuart Eccles

Ruby On Rails has been one of the hyped development technologies of the last 12 months but what is it really about? Find out how you can use Ruby On Rails to build database-driven back-ends for Flex 2 applications with less lines of code than ever before.

Stefen Richter is giving a talk on Flash Media Server which i’m really excited about. The Media Server is one of the things that makes Flash unique as a true Rich Media Application.

So if you are interested in Flex, Flash or Ruby On Rails and you are hanging around London the sign up at http://www.lfpug.com/

UPDATE:

O’Reilly have been kind enough to give me 5 copies of Agile Web Development with Rails and 5 vouchers for a free copy of their new book Ruby On Rails: Up and Running to give away as prizes to attendees.

So register over at LFPUG to be entered for the draw.

Summit: The Future of WebApps

February 14th, 2006 Last week I was at the Carson Workshops "Future of Web Apps Summit":http://www.carsonworkshops.com/summit/index.html. Its fantastic this kind of thing gets to London as it often seems we miss out on all the best talks to many thanks to Ryan and Gillian, please keep it up!! Had a great time, met up with lots of people i knew for many different places and got hideously drunk. Now I don't really go in for the whole Web2.0 thing. I'm a massive advocate for a lot of things it encompasses but i just hate bandwagons. I'm a bandwagon rustler. Nearly everyone is releasing big bold/rounded corner/large text/pastel colour sites and claiming they are next big thing. Its driving me nuts right now. I'm much much interested in how this is going to change business, both online and offline, new and old. It was great to see some speakers who knew what they were talking about. But it was a little disappointing that no one (except maybe Tom) didnt do big picture stuff and take a real punt on what the future would be like. For them the future was just like it is now in the web2.0 world, just more of it. So here is my speaker review in no particular order: Notes can be found "here":http://www.socialtext.net/webapps/index.cgi h2. Joshua Schachter: Delicious - Things we've learned Very disappointing, and nearly every one i had spoken to agreed. Joshua used the "Takahashi Method":http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/living_large_ta.html of presenting which is just few slides and big big bold text. But this is better for shorter presentations. Joghua was a bit rambling with little structure and kinda jumped to the detail while what the conference needed was a big conceptual kick-off. I also get the feeling Joshua is just one lucky bastard with a great idea, he implemented fantasticaly but his advice to others, don't market, just do a problem you need solving and don't worry about making money only really applies to the fastest of fast-mover advantage. h2. Cal Henderson: From web site to web application Cal was better, more lively presentation but was less on Building Flickr as to what a web2.0 application actually means. This was a good breakdown and while Joshua talked the same subject, Cal had better structure. Cal was using a cross between the "Kawasaki Method":http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/the_kawasaki_me.html with his top 10 and the "Godin Method":http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/the_godin_metho.html in style. h2. Tom Coates: Native to a web of data The best of the night. Tom's a great presenter. His presentation was on the concepts of data and web2.0 and how data level exposure can enhance your business. A really great presentation which can be found "here":http://www.plasticbag.org/files/native/. Tom also used a bit of the "Godin Method":http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/the_godin_metho.html but a lot of his own style. h2. David Heinemeier Hansson: Happy programming with Ruby on Rails Well David was preaching to the choir for me and i couldnt say i learnt anything new. I did hear people say they though DHH presentation was a bit of a marketing pitch, which is a share because i'm sure that it wasn't intended that way. DHH basically spent half his time talking about good versus evil coding and developer motivation and the rest showing why RoR good looks so good. He really didnt pull it off, i spent the next hour explaining more about RoR to people i was with. At least half the people there where non-devs and it would have been good for DHH to talk about what it would mean to them. h2. Shaun Inman: Ten reasons why you need to build an API Shuan Inman, from "Mint":http://www.haveamint.com/ shot his load quickly and came across as the most nervous. His presentation was straight out of the "Kawasaki Method":http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/09/the_kawasaki_me.html but at least he had time for questions and actually this was his best bit h2. Andrew Shorten: Flex from Adobe Well this was Adobe's sell, the reason they had paid for the thing. The chance to talk about Flex to a bunch of people who are obviously big Ajax fans. And it was a good intro especially to people who would never have noticed it otherwise. I even talked to some people who said they might look into it for some projects. Nice sell Adobe! h2. Ryan Carson: Building a web app on a budget Second best of the day behind Tom. Ryan's a great speaker and a great example of how to use "Keynote":http://www.apple.com/uk/iwork/keynote/ good looking but not distracting (thats Keynote, not Ryan). While a lot of what he said seems like common sense, i know of a lot of people who wouldn't think of it. Two of the guys i was with who had set up their own online business were like "preach it sister!" h2. Steffen Meschkat: Reality-Checking the AJAX Web Application Architecture Oh dear. I'm sure Steffen is a nice chap and he is very bright but this was terrible. At the point he started discussing the inner workings and problems with DOM for 12 minutes of his allocated 45, we made a break for it to hit the pub.

The Best Coffee in Soho, London

February 3rd, 2006 Non-tech related post but it is essential i say this now. Without a doubt the best coffee to be had in London, if not the UK, if not the world has to be "Flat Whites":http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Hopkins+Street,+Westminster,+Greater+London,+W1&ll=51.512901,-0.134857&spn=0.009828,0.027122 in Soho. These guys just rock! The coffee just tastes out of this world, it gives Starbucks a great kicking. Not only that but the coffee actually looks like a work of art and the sandwichs are excellent. Its a coffee revolution