Installing Rubinius Using RVM

Rubinius is an implementation of the Ruby language designed for concurrency. The lead developer of Rubinius, Brian Shirai, will present Rubinius at ChicagoRuby on March 4, 2014. ChicagoRuby will follow-up with a Rubinius-themed hack night on March 12th. Details.

To prepare for the Rubinius events, some people may choose to install Rubinius locally. RVM makes the process smooth.

Exploring Controversial Coding Topics at 8th Light

8th Light recently hosted a panel discussion on Controversial Coding Topics. I was honored to share the panel with two technology leaders whom I admire: Mark Rickmeier of Table XI and Corey Haines of Wavetable. Rachel Feigenbaum of 8th Light organized the event.

An Environment of Respect, 2nd Iteration

Thank you to everyone who offered feedback on An Environment of Respect, which included an early draft of the WindyCityRails Code of Conduct.

The frank and earnest exchange of ideas was educational. Some of the feedback was positive, on the order of “we’re all colleagues, we treat each other with respect, that’s good.”

However, I paid special attention to the negative feedback because it surprised me. Surprise happens when I face something that I do not understand. When I encounter something that I do not understand, there’s an opportunity for learning.

So I did what I always do when I need to learn more. I spoke with people who know more than me.

An Environment of Respect

Here is an early draft of the WindyCityRails Code of Conduct:

WindyCityRails strives to provide a healthy, harassment-free conference experience for all attendees. Our Code of Conduct, which has been practiced by members of our community for years, is as follows: Treat everyone at the conference as you would want yourself, a family member, or an esteemed colleague to be treated. Our community is stronger when every member contributes to the safety and learning of the other members. We are colleagues, and we treat each other with respect.

There may be some wordsmithing and typo-correction this week, but the final version will essentially read as it appears above. Key objectives achieved:

• Simplicity. The point is made with minimal words.
• Inclusiveness. Everybody who wants to learn and engage is included.
• Respect. Everybody is treated with respect. No threats are made.

You have already read the most important part of this post. The rest tells how the code came to be.

Henry Ford's Faster Horse

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.

~Henry Ford

The above Henry Ford quote is often cited in presentations about innovation. The point of the quote: An inventor who listens to customers too closely, without observing customer behavior, will reap tiny improvements at best. Ford ignored the request for “a faster horse”, and that is how the Ford Motor Company became a leader in the early auto industry.

That’s one way to interpret Ford’s quote. Last night, I was introduced to another view.