The Tuesday, May 8th meeting of the Rocky Mountain Internet Users
Group (RMIUG) will discuss "Ruby On Rails: The Good, the Bad, and the
Foobarly"

Ruby On Rails (RoR) has taken the programming world by storm since it
was released to the public in July 2004.

RoR combines Ruby, an object oriented programming language with
super-clean syntax, with Rails, an open-source Model-View-Controller
(MVC) based framework that enables development ten times faster than
typical frameworks. The two together enables programmers to create
fully functioning websites in a fraction of the time.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, consider the following:
* The official RoR website features two almost-too-good-to-be-true
demos: Creating a Weblog in 15 minutes and a Flickr interface in 5
minutes. (I've personally tried them and it's true...JZ)
* RoR has built in AJAX libraries such as Script.aculo.us to make very
slick user experiences within a typical Web browsers.
* Apple Computer will be adding RoR as part of their next version of
OSX (due to be released in October)

But is it all what is cracks up to be? How many times have we heard
and tried new development platforms only to have it not meet up with
the hype?

For our next meeting, we will explore RoR, get wowed by its
capabilities, but also get a better understanding of what it can (and
cannot) do. So, put on your geeky-ness for this discussion, as the
following guest speaker will demonstrate RoR and talk about his recent
study comparing it to other programming frameworks:

David Gustafson (dave.gustafson@...) is Vice President of
Technology and Product Development for Wyant Data Systems, Inc. Dave
joined WDS from his position as Founder and Chief Architect of Cold
Mountain Software, a provider of software services and products for
project management and enterprise knowledge management. Prior to
Cold Mountain Software, Dave was Chief Architect and Co-Founder of
Accumedia.com, Inc., a provider of hosted and managed content
management, control and delivery systems targeted for the needs of the
media and entertainment industries. Dave holds a BA in Physics from
Middlebury College and has done graduate study in Computer Science at
Worcester Polytech and University of Colorado.

Links:
http://www.wyantdata.com
http://www.rubyonrails.org


The meeting is Tuesday, May 8th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (with optional
6:30 pm start for refreshments and informal networking). The meeting
will be held at The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at
1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. To get to NCAR from the Boulder
Turnpike (US 36) or Broadway (US 93), take Table Mesa Drive west
towards the mountains for approximately 2.5 miles into the foothills.
NCAR is at the top of the hill. For door-to-door driving directions,
go to MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/), click on Driving
Directions, enter your starting address, NCAR's address, and voila!
Park in the NCAR lot, go in the main door, and ask the guard to point
you to meeting, which is held in the main auditorium, right off the
lobby. The meeting is free and open to the public, but we may pass the
hat to help defray expenses.

Our meeting location seats about 120 people. That is usually enough
room to accommodate all attendees, but it's impossible for us to
predict how many people will show up for any given meeting. Seating is
always on a first-come, first serve basis, and in the event of more
attendees than seats, we won't be able to admit additional people into
the auditorium after all seats are filled.

Thanks to our three sponsors who help make RMIUG meetings happen:
---------------------------------------------------------------
MicroStaff (www.microstaff.com) which provides Creative and Technical
talent for Web, Interactive Media, Marketing Communications and
Software Development projects, is the sponsor of food and beverages
for RMIUG meetings.
ONEWARE (http://www.ONEWARE.com) -- a Colorado-based software company
that provides semi-custom web-based applications, sponsors the RMIUG
meeting minutes.
Copy Diva (http://www.copydiva.com) which provides marketing project
management, marketing communications consulting, and web content
development is the AV sponsor for RMIUG.

Consultants and companies are invited to bring Internet-related
Product information, brochures, and business cards which will be
displayed on an information table.

There are email mailing lists set up for this group. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see http://www.rmiug.org/maillist.html. You can also
reach the RMIUG "Executive" Committee at rmiug-comm@.... Our web
site is at http://www.rmiug.org/


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Please note that RMIUG is hosted at NCAR and we are their guests. NCAR
has security regulations in effect that we must follow in order to use
the facility. If any RMIUG attendee is unwilling to follow these
simple regulations, I would ask that he or she not attend and instead
read the minutes after the meeting.

Here are the NCAR security policies that must be followed:

1. No weapons.
2. Must sign in at front desk and provide name.
3. Cooperate with security folks including providing ID if requested.
4. We are guests of NCAR so cooperation and courtesy are expected when
dealing with NCAR staff.

If there are any questions or concerns with this policy, please
contact me directly.
Thanks, Josh Zapin (josh@...).
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