From: James Britt Date: 2006-06-23T02:44:53+09:00 Subject: Re: RailsForge pat eyler wrote: > ... > I'd also hate to put one more stumbling block between the Rails-folk > and Ruby. The fact that Rails users already try to start up Rails/Ruby > groups in areas that already have Ruby Brigades leads me to believe > that we need to work harder to remind the Railsians that there's a great > language hiding in their framework, with a vibrant and interesting > community already. > This is what may happen in Phoenix. There's a Ruby group that has been doing well for about 6 months or so. Attendance fluctuates, but I think there is gradual growth. But there may be a Rails group starting soon, and I'm skeptical that people will be making the time to attend both each month. My gut feeling is that such a group will squeeze out the Ruby group (despite the fact that we talk about Rails stuff almost every meeting). I may go to both, but don't really plan on regular attendance at a Rails group, even if it is the only Ruby group that remains. Now, part of the matter is geography; there are Rails developers who work some distance from the where the Ruby meetings are held. The idea of a Ruby meeting, of any kind, that is closer is appealing. But it seems that most people who would prefer the Rails meeting are more interested in learning the quirks of has_and_belongs_to_many than in understanding blocks and metaprogramming. And I think that, in the end, they'll get really good at manipulating a particular API, but will not learn as much Ruby as they could. The flip side, of course, is that perhaps that is *exactly* what they want, and for good reasons. So it may be unfair to expect them to sit through boring discussions of method_missing and instance_eval. -- James Britt "I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." - Richard P. Feynman