Eurocamp2015: A Tale About Unicorns, Beacons, and Music

Once again, Ruby friends from all around the world met in Potsdam for this year’s eurucamp and JRubyConf, taking place between 31__st July and 1st August. Take a look at what happened during those two, slightly different, yet both extremely interesting developer conferences._

When we got to Potsdam  it wasn’t really difficult to find the amazing Griebnitzsee campus, where the conferences were held. The organizers had put a lot of effort into making sure that none of the participants got lost, wandering around the vast premises – the enthusiastic troop of volunteers, wearing bright pink shirts helped every incoming Ruby-lover find their place and feel like home, served with freshly brewed coffee, literally – gallons of Club-Mate and ice cream.

Once everyone was properly fed and had their bloodstream supplied with just enough caffeine – we attended the first presentations of JRubyConf.

Nothing spoils your event experience more, no matter the quality of the content, than poor organization. That was definitely not the case here! Despite the great “basics”, the organizers in Potsdam made sure everyone can equally participate  – all talks were subtitled in real time, thanks to lovely stenographer, Kimberly.

Table of Contents

• A Lot to Talk About
  • Links to Touch and Music Making with Ruby
• eurucamp 2015 – Ruby community at its finest

A Lot to Talk About

The events were really packed with high quality content of a wide array of topics. Everyone could find something interesting: from development topics such as scaling Ruby and game programming with Haskell to more general talks about equality for women and the obstacles that parents face in our industry.

One of the presenters worth mentioning, Terence Lee ( @hone02 ) did a great speech on mruby  – portable and lightweight version of Ruby 1.9.

Equally fresh approach was presented with Crystal. This alpha stage language mixes Ruby style syntax with statically type-checking and compilation into native code. Interesting solution, I’m curious how it turns out.

Links to Touch and Music Making with Ruby

Bluetooth Low Energy beacons were THE Topic this time. Presentation by Meike Wiemann ( @weidenfreak ) brought a lot of attention to those tiny devices. What beacons do is they broadcast short range Bluetooth signal, allowing precise location of smartphones and other mobile devices inside of buildings. A beacon can also trigger a notification (push message) if someone enters their range. Currently, Apple with iBeacon and Google with Eddystone are fighting for the largest slice of beacon cake.

An absolute highlight of those 2 days in Potsdam was the time, when Joseph Wilk ( @josephwilk & also take a look on his blog ) took the stage. He showed us how to create music and visual effects in real time with Ruby. Simply magical, people were thrilled.

Tackling Inequality

The Rails Girls, a popular in Europe and Beyond, all-female Ruby community did a great speech on how to bring more women into our men dominated industry. They showed clearly that everyone can be a programmer, despite the gender, appearance or origin – tackling all of the stereotypes.

Apparently, Ruby is really for everyone – even the unicorns. It was hard not to notice the fabulous, Berlin-based workgroup Rubycorns, as they were wearing their awesome unicorn costumes all the time.

eurucamp 2015 – Ruby community at its finest

T

hose were most definitely two days worth remembering. This great conference allowed us to take a glimpse of how colorful Ruby community can be. Lots of thanks to the organizers, you’ve done an excellent job, preparing  the event like no other! We’re looking forward to participating next year, I guarantee!