why i ruby or: my first program liz abinante AKA @feministy wizard & slothologist by night software engineer at new relic by day

preface slides are text-heavy so we can all follow along

(brief) history of liz, vol. 1

age 12: html & css the entire internet is ugly and there is no one to impress

this works so well for me

subtext: i used … a lot.

subtext: i used … a lot.

i made beautiful websites for 10+ years… alone

for 10+ years i did not know anyone else who wrote code.

i was perfectly happy about the state of things until i started learning more about technology.

then, it was just doom. confusing, exciting doom.

OMG WHAT EVEN IS THE INTERNET?

i learned to program 2.5 years ago

ruby was my first programming language

why i ruby

i learned ruby because there were people to help be a successful beginner

i learned ruby because the community has done lots of small things that have big impact

i learned ruby because i was never alone when i was a beginner

it seemed to work out! i’m here, after all

my first program

something with logic. something with state.

something with design requirements.

something with a user interface of sorts.

something that either works…

or fails spectacularly

so, what was it?

thanks, internet: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/tamagotchi-reboot_n_4339168.html

TAMAGOTCHI!!!!!

my first program was a PuppyGotchi

d

just look at it:

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

poopers = PuppyGotchi.new("Kiwi") poopers.feed_puppy poopers.puppy_bathroom_tinkle poopers.puppy_bathroom_poopy

my awesome dog, kiwi

how does the PuppyGotchi experience time?

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

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

the PuppyGotchi fails pretty spectacularly

it usually dies because it needs constant care…

… but also because the concepts of logic and math in programming were lost on me as a beginner

positive note, though: this is exactly how a real tamagotchi behaved!

we are always beginners

when was the last time you learned a new programming language…

and wrote something that was totally foolish,

or ridiculously fun, or failed spectacularly?

it’s scary to be a beginner at anything

programmers are really smart, and we brag. a lot.

all of the code books are perfect, beautiful code

beginners don’t have the tools to write that code yet

sharing your (adorable) mistakes makes learning more fun for beginners

sharing your mistakes lets beginners see their future success in your past experiences

ruby is better together

here is your small thing to do:

find your first program

it can be the first program you ever wrote or from a new language you learned

tweet it! NO EDITING. #myfirstprogram

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for better or worse, all of my early programming

#myfirstprogram share your code. help beginners to be awesome. show them what the ruby community is all about! THANK YOU!!!! @feministy