June 2021 Meeting

The June 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Wednesday the 9th of June, from… wait, what? Wednesday?!

Yes, that's right. This month, we’re doing something a little different and joining up with many of the other European Ruby user groups (including our good friends in NWRug, Shrug, SW Ruby and ScotRuby) to have a sort-of mini Rails-Conf.

The details are now available at the EMEA on Rails site and we will keep you updated as we find out more about how to join in on the day. You can also follow the event on Twitter. The event will run through the afternoon and early evening (the schedule showing GMT + 1 is the same as BST, our current timezone), and you'll be free to dip in and out as your own schedule allows.

This is all a bit of an experiment, but hopefully it will be a fun opportunity to interact with some other user groups, and take a little bit more advantage of the remote-ness of our circumstances at the moment. In July, we'll be back to our regular second-Monday meetups.

Hopefully see you then!

Posted by James Adam on May 20, 2021

May 2021 Meeting

The May 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 10th of May, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm).

Full registration details are given below, note that the zoom meeting url is only sent to registered attendees, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

So far there's one talk on the agenda, but we're always looking for me so please email talks@lrug.org if your interested in sharing a talk with us.

Your fortified cookie jar: Demystifying cookie security in Rails #

Ayush Newatia says:

You may have heard that cookie security is hard with the need to worry special flags and encryption. Actually, Ruby on Rails makes it super simple to securely store data in cookies. In this talk I'll explain the different types of cookies supported by Rails and what Rails does under the hood to secure the data they contain.

Is this feature a waste of time? #

Tom Lord says:

Sometimes a new feature may be objectively worthwhile; but often one might be left wondering “Does this actually make our product better?”, or “Is this making the business more money?”.

In this talk, I will explore the virtues of defining North Star metrics, AB testing product variations to statistical significance, and using funnel analysis to quantify a feature's value.

Afterwards #

We leave the zoom call running after the talks are over for as long as our collective rumbling stomachs can handle. Why not stick around and chat with the handful of attendees who also don't have zoom fatigue yet. If you've got any ideas for something better let us know at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Murray Steele on Apr 25, 2021

April 2021 Meeting

The April 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 12th of April, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). It's our first meeting of the 2nd year of remote-only LRUG.

Full registration details are given below, note that the zoom meeting url is only sent to registered attendees, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

We've got one talk lined up for you this month so far. We've always space for more though. Email talks@lrug.org, if you've got something you'd like to share with your fellow LRUG attendees.

Git Rebase #

Brooke Kuhlmann says:

Git is the dominant tool for version management. Misunderstanding and misusing Git can cost development teams time, energy, and money. Few better examples exist than Git's default merge workflow which creates repositories that are hard to read, debug, and maintain. In this talk, I'll show how to use the Git Rebase Workflow instead, which puts Git to work for you to produce quality code that's easy to handle and kicks your team into high gear.

Your questions will be answered by Brooke Kuhlmann who is the founder of the Alchemists where the mission is to create an inclusive and thoughtful collective focused on the craft, quality, ethics, and security of software engineering.

1. LRUG April 2021 - Brooke Kuhlmann - Git rebase
2. Alchemists.io | Presentations | Git Rebase

Afterwards #

Despite spending a year doing this, we've yet to work out a decent online version of the post-meeting pub. That said, we leave the zoom call running aftet the talks are over and the formal goodbyes have been said. You're more than welcome to hang out with the handful of folk who do stay on. If you've got any ideas for something better let us know at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Brooke Kuhlmann on Mar 15, 2021

March 2021 Meeting

The March 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 8th of March, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm), taking place once again in our virtual home. This will mark a full year of running LRUG remotely. Wild times.

Full registration details are given below. Please remember that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

We've got two talks this month, but as ever, we always need more, from April onwards. Email talks@lrug.org and we will do our very best to nurture your seed of inspiration into a healthy plant of… content.

Data as a foreign language, or: A tale of two (or possibly three) type systems #

Matt Patterson says:

Working with XSLT/XPath’s XDM type system in Ruby requires learning how to translate between two very different type systems in a way which allows for idiomatic Ruby without ignoring the bits of XDM which aren’t quite Ruby-shaped. Oh, and the only open-source implementation is in Java, so Java’s type system is in the mix.

I’ll look at a couple of cases where the different approaches and assumptions of Ruby and XDM (and Java, which just can’t help sticking its nose in) interact in an interesting way.

1. LRUG March 2021 - Matt Patterson - Data as a foreign language, or: A tale of two (or possibly three) type systems

Sundae Club: Livestreaming Ruby on Rails #

Max Shelley:

I host a weekly livestream where each week I work on a Ruby on Rails app and, along with those watching, we plan then build different features and discuss different possible approaches. It’s casual, aimed very loosely at learners, hopefully useful and receives positive feedback from those that watch or interact.

When I mention livestreaming to others, they’re often interested in how it works, what I get from doing it, what those who interact with the streams get out of it and how they could potentially get involved in streaming. This talk aims to answer those questions, along with any others you may have, come and say hello!

1. LRUG March 2021 - Max Shelley - Sundae Club: Livestreaming Ruby on Rails

Afterwards #

We're all at home so there's no post-meeting pub meetup, however a few attendees often hang around on in the zoom call after the talks are over. It's a pale-shadow of the pub meetup, so if you have some ideas about doing something better do get in touch at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you must familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all just little silent video characters.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by James Adam on Feb 25, 2021

February 2021 Meeting

The February 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 8th of February, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). The online nature of our little gathering continues.

Full registration details are given below, but do note that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, because we have limited places, so please do it.

Agenda #

It's our annual ⚡️lightning⚡️ talks event. All short talks, all the time. As ever, we're still looking for volunteers (we have room for up to eight of you), so get in touch talks@lrug.org, if you've got something to say.

An intro to Bridgetown: A static site generator for the modern JAMStack era. #

Ayush Newatia:

Bridgetown is a new Ruby-powered static site generator that was forked from Jekyll 4.1. It has a focus on modern ideas and includes Webpack as a first-class citizen. In this talk I'll give a demo of what differentiates Bridgetown from Jekyll and some of its best features; followed by a short Q&A.

1. LRUG February 2021 - Ayush Newatia - An intro to Bridgetown: A static site generator for the modern JAMStack era

The Path(name) of least resistance #

Fred Cheung:

Ruby has many classes that deal with files, paths or directories, but one that often doesn't get enough credit is Pathname. Pathname unifies the other pretenders to the throne with a consistent, rubyish interface that is a joy to work with.

1. LRUG Februrary 2021 - Fred Cheung - The Path(name) of least resistance

Are we parallel yet? A first look at Ruby Ractors #

Lorenzo Barasti:

A speedrun through actor-based concurrency, the Ractor API and the future of parallel applications in Ruby.

1. LRUG Februrary 2021 - Lorenzo Barasti - Are we parallel yet? A first look at Ruby Ractors

Uncovering some ruby magic in awesome_print #

Mark Burns:

ap 1.methods takes an Array of Symbols as input and outputs details it shouldn't know about the methods themselves. ap 1.methods.dup has the same behaviour, but ap 1.methods.take(1.methods.length) does not. I will peer into the magic and divulge its secrets.

1. LRUG February 2021 - Mark Burns - Uncovering some ruby magic in `awesome_print

Taking Rails Offline #

Mike Rogers:

Networks are unreliable & drop out all the time! Lets make our apps more resilient to that!

1. LRUG February 2021 - Mike Rogers - Taking Rails Offline

Afterwards #

The best we can do at the moment is promise that a few of us will hang out on the zoom call after all the talks are done to blather on for a bit. It's a poor substitute for actually meeting up in person, but we'll persevere with it. If you have some ideas about an alternative approach, then let us know at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Murray Steele on Jan 24, 2021

January 2021 Meeting

The January 2021 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 11th of January, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). Still online.

Full registration details are given below, note that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

We've got one talk lined up for you this month, but we always need more. Email talks@lrug.org, if you'd like to start your 2021 presenting to the enthralled hordes of LRUG attendees.

Recruiting 101 instead of 404 #

Thayer Prime says:

Recruitment is one of the hardest problems in scaling your tech company. Everyone wants the best, everyone wants diversity in hires, everyone wants the most affordable people - but companies rarely have the time, money or ability to invest in creating a world class recruiting team. So what are some of the common questions we can review, and how do you navigate the pitfalls of bad hiring as a starter for ten? Come and find out from an LRUG community Q&A to address some of the most commonly asked questions, and get some starter tips on hiring humans, not resources.

Your Qs will be A'd by Thayer Prime, of Team Prime who started life in the tech industry as a programmer twenty years ago, before turning to the dark arts of recruitment. She's been lucky enough to work with the likes of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Jimmy Wales, Apple, Stripe and NASA to name just a few. She has founded three successful companies herself, and often acts as a strategic adviser to founders and C-level executives growing their tech capacity within their organisations.

For info on how to submit questions for the talk check out Thayer's email to the mailing list explaining the situation.

1. LRUG January 2021 - Thayer Prime - Recruiting 101 instead of 404

Afterwards #

We're all at home so there's no post-meeting pub meetup, however a few attendees often hang around on in the zoom call after the talks are over. It's a pale-shadow of the pub meetup, so if you have some ideas about doing something better do get in touch at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Murray Steele on Dec 22, 2020

December 2020 Meeting

The December 2020 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 14th of December, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). We're still online. Stay home. Protect the NHS.

Full registration details are given below, note that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

We've got one talk lined up for you this month, but we always need more. Email talks@lrug.org, yeah? Be a pal.

Create a Twitter clone in 15 minutes in pure Ruby with Matestack #

Jonas Jabari says:

Matestack enables you to implement reactive web UIs in pure Ruby, skipping ERB, HTML and JavaScript. In a live coding session, we will create a Twitter clone using Matestack's core features from scratch!

1. LRUG December 2020 - Jonas Jabari - Create a Twitter clone in 15 minutes in pure Ruby with Matestack

Afterwards #

For the good of the country, we have had to pause our normal post-LRUG pub time, but typically a few folks will hang on in the zoom call after the talks are over. We've been meaning to try the new self-selecting breakout rooms too, which we could. But in general, the ongoing-pandemic after-meet experience could still use some work: if you have any ideas on that, do get in touch at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Chris Lowis on Nov 27, 2020

November 2020 Meeting

The November 2020 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 9th of November, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). In defiance of the new lockdown, we will be holding the meeting in Trafalgar Squ… no, of course not. We're still online. Stay home. Protect the NHS.

Full registration details are given below, note that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

Thanks to the beautiful people who responded to our cry for talks, we've another two lined up for you this month, but we always need more. Email talks@lrug.org, yeah? G'wan. It'd be a real help.

Patches Welcome! #

Everybody at LRUG probably uses open source software - unless they got lost on the way to another meeting - but it often surprises me how few developers take the extra step from using it, to contributing to (or releasing their own) open source software projects. I'm going to talk about how I got involved in the open source community, why I stay involved, and about my current open source projects

Denny de la Haye has been a programmer for nearly 30 years now - "although my ZX81 code is thankfully all lost in the mists of time (AKA audio cassettes and thermal printer paper)", he says. He has spent most of the last 4+ years writing Ruby, and most of the 15+ before that writing Perl. The switch between the two was less traumatic than he expected, but it did lead to starting another open source software project last year…

1. LRUG November 2020 - Denny de la Haye - Patches Welcome!
2. Links to pages and projects mentioned in "Patches Welcome!"

Convention over Kubernetes: (Almost) Configless Deploys with Kuby #

Rails' most well-known mantra is "convention over configuration," i.e. sane defaults that limit the cognitive overhead of application development. It's easy to learn and easy to build with. The development experience is fantastic… right up until the point you want to deploy your app to production. It's at that point that the hand-holding stops.

Heroku to the rescue, right? Just push your git repo to "heroku master" and never think about deployment again! Heroku is a great option for many small projects and the ease of deployment is exactly the kind of experience Rails developers are used to. To quote Aaron Patterson: "but at what cost?" You're tied to Heroku's stack and stuck within the limitations of their free tier. Heroku's add-ons can get pretty expensive too if you decide to upgrade later on.

How can we, but humble Rails devs, achieve the same seamless, turnkey deployment experience affordably? Enter the Kuby gem, a convention-over-configuration approach to deploying Rails apps using industry-leading technologies. Come learn how, with almost no configuration, you too can use Kuby to leverage Docker and Kubernetes to deploy your Rails app cost-effectively on a variety of cloud platforms.

Cameron Dutro currently works on the Quip team at Salesforce. He's been programming in Ruby and using Rails for ten years and has held previous positions at Fluther, Twitter, and Lumos Labs. When he's not reading about, using, or working on technology, Cameron can be found hiking in the hills behind his house or hanging out at home with his wife, daughter, and cat.

1. LRUG November 2020 - Cameron Dutro - Convention over Kubernetes: (Almost) Configless Deploys with Kuby

Afterwards #

For the good of the country, we have had to pause our normal post-LRUG pub time, but typically a few folks will hang on in the zoom call after the talks are over. We've been meaning to try the new self-selecting breakout rooms too, which we could. But inn general, the ongoing-pandemic after-meet experience could still use some work: if you have any ideas on that, do get in touch at organisers@lrug.org.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though we are all in our own little bubbles.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by James Adam on Nov 02, 2020

October 2020 Meeting

The October 2020 meeting of LRUG will be on Monday the 12th of October, from 6:20pm to 8:00pm (meeting starts at 6:30pm). In keeping with the times, our meeting will be online.

We'll run the meeting on our own zoom account, so make sure you have the zoom client for your preferred device, or know how to attend via the web.

Full registration details are given below, note that we will only be sending out the zoom meeting url to people who have registered, so please do make sure you do it.

Agenda #

We've got two talks lined up for you this month. We also need more talks for the rest of year, and beyond, so please get in touch on talks@lrug.org if there's something you'd like to say to LRUG.

JWTs - what Rails developers need to know #

Dan Moore:

What is a JSON Web Token (JWT) and why do you care? JWTs are a stateless, standardized way to represent user data. This talk will discuss why JWTs matter and the nuts and bolts of JWTs. We’ll also discuss how you might use a JWT in your Rails or Ruby application.

1. LRUG October 2020 - Dan Moore - JWTs - what Rails developers need to know
2. JWTs - What Rails Developers need to know
3. Building a Secure Signed JWT
4. Ruby JWT Examples

Getting Past the Tech Test #

Michael Mazour:

Sometimes people have great backgrounds and great skills, but have trouble getting hired because they didn't approach the tech test the way the company wanted. As someone who reviews a lot of tech tests at work, I'm going to explain some of the unwritten rules and expectations that you might not know if you've been out of circulation or are just entering the job market, and help you level up your tech test game.

1. LRUG October 2020 - Michael Mazour - Getting past the tech test
2. Getting Past the Tech Test

Afterwards #

A few of us usually hang out in the Zoom chat after the meeting. It only really works with a handful of people though, so we're still on the lookout for something else tha would work for more attendees. If you have any ideas on that, do get in touch at organisers@lrug.org and we can explore it together.

Registration #

Prior to attending you should familiarise yourself with our README paying close attention to the code of conduct which applies to all attendees, even though there's no pub or venue. Basically they are good rules to generally live your life by.

Secure your place #

Even in a virtual world there are limited places for attending the meeting so you need to register via eventbrite. The link to the zoom meeting will only be sent to registered attendees on the day of the meeting, around about 6pm. Keep an eye out for the email and check your spam just in case.

Do prepare yourself in advance by downloading the zoom client.

Posted by Chris.Lowis on Oct 05, 2020