Why I Ruby (Or: My First Program)

I write Ruby because the community helped me be a successful beginner when I was struggling alone after more than 10 years of writing HTML & CSS and knowing no one else who wrote code. This talk is an ode to Ruby and the wonderful things we've done together, and a little flash back to my first program ever.

Transcript

1. why i ruby or: my first program liz abinante AKA @feministy wizard & slothologist by night software engineer at new relic by day
2. preface slides are text-heavy so we can all follow along
3. (brief) history of liz, vol. 1
4. age 12: html & css the entire internet is ugly and there is no one to impress
5. this works so well for me
6. subtext: i used <blink> … a lot.
7. subtext: i used <blink> … a lot.
8. i made beautiful websites for 10+ years… alone
9. for 10+ years i did not know anyone else who wrote code.
10. i was perfectly happy about the state of things until i started learning more about technology.
11. then, it was just doom. confusing, exciting doom.
12. OMG WHAT EVEN IS THE INTERNET?
13. i learned to program 2.5 years ago
14. ruby was my first programming language
15. why i ruby
16. i learned ruby because there were people to help be a successful beginner
17. i learned ruby because the community has done lots of small things that have big impact
18. i learned ruby because i was never alone when i was a beginner
19. it seemed to work out! i’m here, after all
20. my first program
21. something with logic. something with state.
22. something with design requirements.
23. something with a user interface of sorts.
24. something that either works…
25. or fails spectacularly
26. so, what was it?
27. thanks, internet: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/tamagotchi-reboot_n_4339168.html
28. TAMAGOTCHI!!!!!
29. my first program was a PuppyGotchi
30. d
31. just look at it:
32. class PuppyGotchi def initialize(name) @name = name @puppy_belly = 10 @puppy_bladder = 0 @puppy_bowels = 0 @puppy_is_sleeping = true puts "Congrats! You are now the proud owner of #{@name}." end # ... end
33. poopers = PuppyGotchi.new("Kiwi") poopers.feed_puppy poopers.puppy_bathroom_tinkle poopers.puppy_bathroom_poopy
34. my awesome dog, kiwi
35. how does the PuppyGotchi experience time?
36. def passing_time if @puppy_belly >= 2 @puppy_belly = @puppy_belly - 1 @puppy_bowels = @puppy_bowels + 1 @puppy_bladder = @puppy_bladder + 1 elsif @puppy_belly == 1 @puppy_is_sleeping = false else dead_puppy end if @puppy_bowels == 10 @puppy_bowels = 0 puts "#{@name} just took a huge deuce in your favorite suede shoes. That's what you get for leaving them out!" end if @puppy_bladder == 10 @puppy_bladder = 0 puts "#{@name} just went pee all over your $5,000 carpet. This is the definition of love. Go clean it up and learn from your mistakes." end if puppy_hungry? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} wakes up and demands to be fed." end if puppy_poopy? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} wakes up and urgently needs to poo." end if puppy_tinkle? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} is awake! They need to pee. Really badly. You better get on that." end end
37. def passing_time if @puppy_belly >= 2 @puppy_belly = @puppy_belly - 1 @puppy_bowels = @puppy_bowels + 1 @puppy_bladder = @puppy_bladder + 1 elsif @puppy_belly == 1 @puppy_is_sleeping = false else dead_puppy end if @puppy_bowels == 10 @puppy_bowels = 0 puts "#{@name} just took a huge deuce in your favorite suede shoes. That's what you get for leaving them out!" end if @puppy_bladder == 10 @puppy_bladder = 0 puts "#{@name} just went pee all over your $5,000 carpet. This is the definition of love. Go clean it up and learn from your mistakes." end if puppy_hungry? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} wakes up and demands to be fed." end if puppy_poopy? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} wakes up and urgently needs to poo." end if puppy_tinkle? @puppy_is_sleeping = false puts "#{@name} is awake! They need to pee. Really badly. You better get on that." end end 5 conditionals el ol sorry, sandi
38. the PuppyGotchi fails pretty spectacularly
39. it usually dies because it needs constant care…
40. … but also because the concepts of logic and math in programming were lost on me as a beginner
41. positive note, though: this is exactly how a real tamagotchi behaved!
42. we are always beginners
43. when was the last time you learned a new programming language…
44. and wrote something that was totally foolish,
45. or ridiculously fun, or failed spectacularly?
46. it’s scary to be a beginner at anything
47. programmers are really smart, and we brag. a lot.
48. all of the code books are perfect, beautiful code
49. beginners don’t have the tools to write that code yet
50. sharing your (adorable) mistakes makes learning more fun for beginners
51. sharing your mistakes lets beginners see their future success in your past experiences
52. ruby is better together
53. here is your small thing to do:
54. find your first program
55. it can be the first program you ever wrote or from a new language you learned
56. tweet it! NO EDITING. #myfirstprogram
58. for better or worse, all of my early programming
59. #myfirstprogram share your code. help beginners to be awesome. show them what the ruby community is all about! THANK YOU!!!! @feministy