…and now for something completely different: Ruby for Newbies class

This is either a blast from my past, or it’s time to try something new…

I’m pleased to announce a free class, Ruby for Newbies, to be held in Denver this Saturday, July 21st — Here are the details/FAQ:

1. “What is it?” Ruby for Newbies is an introductory class about the Ruby programming language, expressly for folks who have a desire to find out more about and start learning Ruby, in a platform neutral (Linux, Mac & Windows welcome) context.  Bring your friends & colleagues — even if they’re Pythonista’s or Perl-hackers!

2. “Who’s doing/presenting it?”  Software Freedom Society presents… Lorin Ricker, instructor.

3. “Who is Lorin?”  He’s an old-geek (gray-beard without the facial hair), a career software developer & engineer, refugee from DEC/PDP/VMS-land who has written gazillions of lines of production code in MACRO, Pascal, SQL, TPU, DCL, Algol, FORTRAN, C, LISP and others.  He’s taught real-time programming (laser trimming systems) in high-level programming languages to process control engineers, and relational databases technology to corrections officers!…  A relatively recent (since 2006) convert to the Linux/GNU/FOSS ecosystem, he’s become proficient in bash, Ruby and regexs and never looked back!

4. “Where?” DenHac, 975 East 58th Avenue, Denver, CO 80216 — Google map: http://goo.gl/maps/rYD4

5. “When?” 10AM – 5PM, Saturday, July 21st

6. “Cost?” Heck, it’s FREE — $0.00! (…But donations to SFS are welcome; tip the instructor only if you learn something worthwhile!)

7. “Any prerequisites?” No, not really.  Of course, previous programming experience will be helpful, but no previous exposure to Ruby is necessary.  Even if you’ve not coded before, we’re going to make Ruby a great place to start learning about programming…

8. “Classroom method?”  Informal, relaxed — we’re going to walk-through a whole bunch of Ruby code, getting you oriented and comfortable with all the basics along the way.  We’ll also compare Ruby to the other two popular scripting languages, Python and Perl, tying many concepts together (or at least down) along the way.

Lorin doesn’t believe in teaching from a bunch of silly and contrived “examples” — instead, we’ll be looking at many “real world” examples of Ruby code, programs which really do something useful.  For example, rather than belaboring “this is how if/then/else works” yet again, we’ll see many useful idioms (how does this apply to a programming language?) which will make Ruby’s if/then/else (and much more) appear natural and useful.

8. “Should I do any preparation for class?”  Optional: a) Bring your laptop (Linux, Mac or Windows).  b) If you can, please pre-install the latest Ruby distribution for your OS.  c) If you like, install a favorite IDE (e.g., Aptana, Geany, jEdit, etc.), although a syntax-coloring text editor (emacs, vi(m), notepad++, etc.) will work as well — we’re just using an editor/IDE to make code-walkthroughs easier to see than on (in addition to) the overhead projector.

We’ll go over lists of resources — books, websites, newsletters, etc. — so you’ll have a good base to continue learning from…  Don’t worry about reading anything in advance of class.

No laptop?  Join us anyway…  Just lean back in your chair and absorb Ruby…

9. “What’ll I get out of this class?”  Well, hopefully, a firm orientation to and grounding in Ruby — This is, after all, an Introductory Class.

You’ll also get a complimentary (free!) Ruby for Newbies Archive (.tgz or .zip) full of all of the example code (useful code that works… and more!) that we’ll be reviewing in class.  But remember, you only get this bonus if you attend the class — it won’t be posted for public pick-up!