so you want to teach ruby and rails

So You Want to TeachRuby and Rails...

Bryan Bibat

So You Want to TeachRuby and Rails...

Bryan Bibat

Not as easy as it looks...

You have to take many things into account in order to be an

effective teacher.

Unfortunately, I only have 30 minutesso I'll just cover the main points.

0. Students

1. Domain

Web Development Knowledge Layersin

Rails is an intermediate-level toolin

1. Domain

0. Students

1. Domain

Beginners

True Beginner

True Beginnerin

Ruby is great for True Beginnersin

Rails is notin

Web Beginner

Web Beginnerin

Veteran

Veteran Web

Veteran Webin

Polyglot / Full Stack Developer

Polyglotin

When I started Rails...

me c.2009 - Veteran Webin

Migrations

class CreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration def self.up create_table :users do |t| t.string :email t.string :password t.string :crypted_password t.string :password_salt t.string :persistence_token t.timestamps end end def self.down drop_table :users endend

Migrationsin

Migrations made sense to me.

Migrations

mind = blown

Migrations - experience overlapin

now compare this with newbies'...

Migrationsin

Migrations - WTF?!?in

Migrations

MigrationsRouting

ActiveRecordConvention over Configuration

Test Driven Development

MigrationsRouting

Test Driven DevelopmentRuby Idioms

Higher Order Functions

MigrationsRouting

Test Driven DevelopmentRuby Idioms

Higher Order FunctionsAsset Pipeline

TurbolinksDevOps

such migrations

much unit tests

very omakaserailz so amaze

@doge ||= 9000

so turbolinks

so restful

such migrations

much unit tests

@doge ||= 9000

so turbolinks

so restfulscrew this, I'm going back to [language]

You have to bridge the gapin

2. Purpose

To understand how our students think,we must first ask ourselves:

Why are we here?

To understand how our students think,we must first ask ourselves:

Why are we here?

How did it come to this?

The Hype Cycle

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeremykemp

But there are other hype cycles...

original image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeremykemp

Also the technology is far from perfect...

Ruby - a multi-paradigm scripting language

Ruby...● is slow● is memory intensive● developers are hard to find● has all the cons of a dynamically typed language

Ruby on Rails - an MVC framework

Rails...● is huge and bloated● has magical abstractions● is hard to deploy

So why?

It's not the technologybut the way of thinking

History of Web Languages/Platformsup to mid-00s

CGI/Perl scripting →

Compiled Language (Java, C#)Templating Language (PHP)

CGI/Perl scripting →

Compiled Language (Java, C#)Templating Language (PHP)

→ Object/Functional Scripting as an option

● is slow● is memory intensive● developers are hard to find● has all the cons of a dynamically typed language

BUT ALSO

● expressive● functional, OO, with metaprogramming● developers examples of the Python Paradox● has all the pros of a dynamically typed language

History of Web Applicationsup to mid-00s

big ball of mud →

over-designed frameworks

big ball of mud →

over-designed frameworks

→ a compromise

● is huge and bloated● has magical abstractions● is hard to deploy

BUT ALSO

● a decent package of design patterns● good for prototyping ie. has a good amount of

features built-in while being extensible● continuously improving along recent trends

A way of thinking that worked

AND...

It took advantage of the hype cycle.

One of the first to use it successfullyto achieve critical mass

history lesson over...

2. Purpose

0. Students

The HYPE is what got us in...

...but the HYPE is also what keeps newbies out.

Expectations are not met.

Manage Expectations

● is slow● is memory intensive● developers are hard to find● has all the cons of a dynamically typed language

BUT ALSO

● expressive● functional, OO, with metaprogramming● developers examples of the Python Paradox● has all the pros of a dynamically typed language

● is huge and bloated● has magical abstractions● is hard to deploy

BUT ALSO

● a decent package of design patterns● good for prototyping ie. has a good amount of

features built-in while being extensible● continuously improving along recent trends

Don't stop explainingin

3. Retention

Tailor your course according to the students you wish to teach

Veterans need only a little pushin

Of course, teaching beginners is hardin

Especially total beginnersin

One-day workshops will not cut it.

You'll need to use some techniques for them to continue learning on their own.

One technique that people often misuse:

rails generate scaffold

● gives students a "taste of power", piquing their interest

● gives students a "taste of power", piquing their interest● produces good sample code (esp. tests) for future study

● many students (and workshops) don't go past it

such migrations

much unit tests

@doge ||= 9000

so turbolinks

so restful

● many students (and workshops) don't go past it● in turn, it gives others the wrong impression

"Rails? Oh, that's just scaffolding scripts."

Follow through

Give them a road map

http://techiferous.com/2010/07/roadmap-for-learning-rails/

Let them try things on their own pace

and this also leads us to the last point...

4. Culture

such migrations

much unit tests

@doge ||= 9000

so turbolinks

so restful

Polyglot / Full Stack Developer

Constantly Improving

http://blog.newrelic.com/2013/10/10/infographic-state-stack-ruby-edition/

Sharing Knowledge

On the other hand...

Myopia

most obvious:

You need to accept that most of your trainees will be Windows

users...

...so give them a clear path for migrating to *nixie. not just "Get a Mac!"

and other stuff in the culture that may turn off interested developers...

tl;dr:You have to introduce them to the culture.

In closing...

1. Domain

2. Purpose

3. Retention

4. Culture

0. Students

( °□°)╯ ╯︵

Or you could just teach Ruby

Thank you for listening!

bryanbibat.net | @bry_bibatspeakerdeck.com/bryanbibat

so you want to teach ruby and rails

Technology

ruby beyond rails

ruby (on rails)

ruby de rails

ruby + rails

ruby rails overview

chinaon rails free ruby rails books

ruby off rails

ruby on rails - 2. rails introduction

ruby on rails

ruby on rails - 3. rails addons

ruby&rails for rails side

rails 2 - drew university for ruby, rails and other material...

ruby on rails [ ruby on rails.ppt ] - [ruby - [ruby-doc.org

introduction to ruby, rails, and ruby on rails

ruby on rails porque usar rails?!

ruby over rails

bcr ruby on rails - boston computing review : ruby on rails

ruby on rails - 1. ruby introduction

teach yourself ruby on rails

ruby on rails no brasil (ppt) - ruby on rails