Registration for Texas's own Ruby conference, the Lone Star Ruby Conference, has opened. The overall event takes place between September 4 - 6, 2008 in the Norris Conference Center in Austin, TX. Tickets are $250 for the two-day conference portion, or $425 for one day of training / tutorials followed by the two day conference. The prices shoot up come August 10.

The schedule is bumper packed with some great sessions and tutorials. James Edward Gray II and Gregory Brown will be delivering a three hour training session on Ruby's IO functionality, Jim Weirich and Joe O'Brien will be delivering a tutorial on Test Driven Development, Gregg Pollack and Jason Seifer (of RailsEnvy fame) will be giving an advanced ActiveRecord workshop, and lots more besides. This seems to be one of those rare events where the tutorial day will be worth its weight in gold, unless you're already a self-certified Ruby / Rails expert of course. As well as this, Yehuda Katz, Glenn Vanderburg, Evan Phoenix, Matz, Bruce Tate, Bruce Williams, and others, will be speaking on various Ruby topics at the conference generally.

This post supported by Rails Kits: Skip the hassle of writing recurring billing code: use the SaaS Rails Kit to quickly add credit card and PayPal payments to your Rails app. Get 10% off by using the discount code "rubyinside" at checkout before August 1st.

Trollop is a command-line argument processing library for Ruby. Developer William Morgan says Trollop is "designed to provide the maximal amount of GNU-style argument processing in the minimum number of lines of code." It makes a refreshing change to the more popular, but generally scary, cmdparse. The homepage features some examples of its usage.

Once you've installed trollop with the usual gem install trollop, you could write:

require 'trollop'

opts = Trollop::options do
  opt :http_1_0, "Force HTTP/1.0"
  opt :http_1_1, "Force HTTP/1.1"
  opt :hide_referer, "Hide referer", :default => true
  opt :connections, "Set number of simultaneous connections", :default => 2
end

p opts

Running the script with no command line options would result in opt becoming:

{:http_1_0=>false, :http_1_1=>false, :hide_referer=>true, :connections=>2, :help=>false}

You also get a --help (or -h) option for free that describes how to use the options:

Options:
         --http-1-0, -h:   Force HTTP/1.0
         --http-1-1, -t:   Force HTTP/1.1
     --hide-referer, -i:   Hide referer (default: true)
  --connections, -c :   Set number of simultaneous connections (default: 2)
             --help, -e:   Show this message

Note that trollop takes care of assigning the short-hand individual letter options, assigning the next letter within the string if the previous ones are taken.

Another option is Optiflag, which present a more DSL-esque solution. Its official homepage features some compelling examples, though the simplicity of Trollop appeals to me more for some reason.

Post supported by Brightbox: Brightbox is a specialist European Rails hosting company. Each Brightbox server includes an optimised Ruby on Rails stack, SAN storage and access to a managed MySQL database cluster. They also manage dedicated clusters for large scale Rails deployments. Click here to learn more...

(Credit: june29 - photo under CC 2.0 Attribution license)

RubyKaigi 2008 took place a couple of weeks ago. As the main Japanese Ruby conference, RubyKaigi is the de-facto authoritative Ruby conference, and the news that came out of the conference this year did little to shake its stature.

The online enterprise news publication InfoQ has covered the conference in two parts. The first features a mini interview with Matz, where he talks about the low adoption rate of Ruby in the enterprise and the role of certifications in the Ruby world. The second InfoQ post reveals that Matz is preparing to "standardize" Ruby, with the ultimate aim to submit a Ruby standard to the ISO, and Koichi Sasada reveals that Ruby 1.9.1 (notable, as it will be the first officially stable / production-ready release of Ruby 1.9) is set to arrive this December.

A lot more seems to have gone down at RubyKaigi than this, as evidenced by the absolute snowstorm of links tagged rubykaigi on del.icio.us, though most of the evidence is in Japanese, of course.

Dr Nic Williams has been busy playing with iPhone and Objective C development lately and, unsurprisingly, has found a way to bring Ruby into the mix. He has developed rbiphonetest, a Ruby-based testing framework for iPhone / Objective C applications that uses RubyCocoa to provide the necessary bridge. As well as producing an in-depth 20 minute demonstration screencast, he has also packed some key information into his blog post.

If you're a Rubyist with ambitions of developing native iPhone applications using Objective C (and perhaps even Ruby one day), it's certainly worth a look (as are all of Dr Nic's projects, of course).

(Remix of an original CC 2.0 licensed work by Joichi Ito.)

From the Ruby Inside job board (costs $99 for a 60 day listing - and you get featured on Ruby Inside like this) come a few new opportunities:

If you or your company have openings for Ruby and/or Rails developers, consider checking out the Ruby Inside job board. Your job not only gets featured in the sidebar of every Ruby Inside page, but also summarized in posts like this. You could even leave a comment on this post if you want.

Note: There are even more jobs over at RubyNow's jobs section and on the 37signals Job Board.

Note: This item has also been posted on Rails Inside. I don't tend to make it a habit of crossposting items, but as Rails Inside is still very new, I am sure many Ruby Inside readers will want to know about it. Beware, however, you will need to subscribe to Rails Inside to get the skinny on new Rails events in the long term :)

Following on from the outstanding success of the "Rails Camp" events that have taken place in Australia, comes Rails Camp UK, the equivalent for Brits (and brave travellers). The first is from Friday, August 15th to Monday, August 18th and takes place just a 30 minute train ride away from London, in Orpington, Kent (my teenage stomping grounds, as it happens).

The organizers say that they want to get together a "posse of like-minded Ruby hackers" to hack and have fun together in an open environment. The whole weekend costs £45 (and includes food and basic accommodation) with a day pass available for £20. Places are limited. You can sign up on EventWax and a Google group has been put together for attendees to discuss the event.

Post supported by Brightbox: Brightbox is a specialist European Rails hosting company. Each Brightbox server includes an optimised Ruby on Rails stack, SAN storage and access to a managed MySQL database cluster. They also manage dedicated clusters for large scale Rails deployments. Click here to learn more...

It's been years in the making, but it has finally arrived.. Rails Inside, the Rails-only equivalent of Ruby Inside! Featuring an all-new template, Rails Inside presents information in a similar format and style to Ruby Inside but with a focus entirely on the Ruby on Rails scene. If Rails is your main thing, or a significant part of your development life, get over there and subscribe (by RSS or e-mail - the e-mail version actually looks surprisingly nice I've found).

Rails stories will still crop up on Ruby Inside but in slightly lower numbers. With its focus, Rails Inside will feature lots more interesting Rails stories and cover smaller (but still interesting) announcements that Ruby Inside wouldn't traditionally pick up anyway. Further, Rails Inside features small items "From The Rails Blogosphere" in between the regular posts to highlight interesting posts made elsewhere in the Rails blogosphere, making it a one-stop Rails news shop (note that the Rails blogosphere items are on the site only, not the feed, to avoid any annoyance).

It's still early days for Rails Inside, but the site is under active development and I hope to get a few key features rolled out within the next couple of weeks, including a feed of Rails-related events in the sidebar, a Twitter subscription option, and an improved general view of the Rails blogosphere.

This post supported by Rails Kits: Skip the hassle of writing recurring billing code: use the SaaS Rails Kit to quickly add credit card and PayPal payments to your Rails app. Get 10% off by using the discount code "rubyinside" at checkout before August 1st.

A light hearted entry, but Ruby has featured quite significantly in the latest edition of the popular User Friendly comic strip series. Unfortunately, a bearded Perl and Emacs fan gives Ruby the slap down, but what's new?

Update: It seems this comic strip might not be as new as it initially seems.. see comments.

(Photo credit: slushpup - License: CC 2.0 Attribution)

Six months ago, we featured 11 Tips on Hiring a Rails Developer here on Ruby Inside (and it got a crazy number of comments), but now Ryan Ritirisi has put together a great list of 15 Questions to Ask During a Ruby Interview. They include questioning developers in a way that can separate professional Ruby developers from the hobbyists (or those who are only familiar with Ruby through Rails templates, say).

Pete Forde of Unspace suggests, however, that asking clever questions isn't necessarily the best way:

The best way to recruit amazing talent is to approach people that you already know are at the top of their game. At this point, the most important question becomes whether their personality is a good fit for the existing team.

Really, if an awesome person who is clearly smart doesn’t know the answer to one of these questions, they can learn it quickly with a little direction. That’s the advantage of having a team - you help each other move forward.

In terms of the actual hiring, it seems there's a much larger demand than there is a supply of Ruby developers. I get e-mails every week from people looking for Ruby and Rails developers and most of my contacts now seem to be inundated with work and aren't ready to take on more!

If you are looking to hire, however, here are some tips:

• Free Ruby Job Site: RubyNow is a very popular, free Ruby and Rails job site.
• Browse developers: WorkingWithRails.com features profiles of thousands of Rails developers (many of whom are Ruby developers generally also). One client I am assisting with Rails recruitment has had quite a lot of success in browsing the location-based section of WorkingWithRails and e-mailing people who sound interesting. In the Ruby and Rails communities, like few others, directly e-mailing people who strike you as potential candidates can be a good tactic.
• Sponsor a post: Ruby Inside has 16,000 Ruby (and many Rails) developers as subscribers. We are now offering a $40 per post "post footer" sponsorship scheme where you get up to 250 characters (plus links) embedded into a post. This means both subscribers and people using the Web site get to see your message. These could be a great way to target the general population of Ruby developers as a whole, since Ruby Inside has the most Ruby developers all in the same place. Interested? E-mail rubyinside -/at/- peterc.org.
• Job board: Consider posting on the Ruby Inside Job board. It costs $99 for 60 days and as well as appearing on the Ruby Inside sidebar, we do a monthly roundup of the jobs featured so that all subscribers can learn about them. I also believe SimplyHired will cross promote your job around their network.
• Mailing lists: Posting on ruby-talk and other Ruby mailing lists does not, from what my contacts tell me, tend to be very effective at all. Even posting on locale specific boards has borne little fruit. It's certainly something to try though if all else fails.
• Get blogging: Rubyists tend to be quite driven by transparency, taste, and exciting, interesting work. If your company doesn't look interesting and isn't interacting online, the chances of getting someone deeply involved with the community is a lot lower. This is why some of the more interesting Ruby-based companies (such as Unspace and New Bamboo) have blogs.. they're great recruitment tools, as much as they're a way to promote their services.

Lastly, remember that there are a lot of Ruby and Rails developers who do not read Ruby Inside, have not filled out their profiles on WorkingWithRails, and do not actively browse the Ruby jobs sites. Sometimes the only way to get the perfect candidate is to actively approach them. Finding these people might require using Google Blog Search (using location names along with keywords like "ruby" and "rails") or actually going to the events they're likely to attend (many of which we post about on Ruby Inside - such as erubycon and RubyFringe - others are very location specific like LRUG Nights in London).

If you have any tips of your own, are looking to be hired, or want to do some hiring, certainly leave comments against this post.

Post supported by Brightbox: Brightbox is a specialist European Rails hosting company. Each Brightbox server includes an optimised Ruby on Rails stack, SAN storage and access to a managed MySQL database cluster. They also manage dedicated clusters for large scale Rails deployments. Click here to learn more...

erubycon is a Ruby conference taking place in Columbus, Ohio between August 15 and 17, 2008. The e seemingly stands for "enterprise" with The Enterprise (and not the Star Trek variety) being a key focus. Earlybird registration is $199.00 and is open till July 4.

The speaker list is quite substantial and includes Neal Ford (Thoughtworks), Stuart Halloway (Relevance, Inc), Jim Weirich, Josh Holmes, Giles Bowkett (is there a conference Giles doesn't speak at?), Evan Light, Anthony Eden, Michael Letterie (IronRuby), Brian Sam-Bodden, Jeremy McAnally (ENTP and the Humble Little Ruby Book) and Lance Carlson (Ruby Skills).

The schedule so far appears to have a focus on solid, information-rich practical presentations rather than airy keynotes and fluffy thought pieces, so it could prove to be quite a learning experience.

Post supported by Brightbox: Brightbox is a specialist European Rails hosting company. Each Brightbox server includes an optimised Ruby on Rails stack, SAN storage and access to a managed MySQL database cluster. They also manage dedicated clusters for large scale Rails deployments. Click here to learn more...