Beautiful Rubyist

We — as Rubyists — have proven to be perceptible to aesthetics through our choice of programming language.
In our daily work we often have to touch user interfaces — on the web, desktop and mobile apps or even in API definitions. And while we might sometimes secretly enjoy working so close to the user and out in the open, visible to everyone, we do so rarely with confidence.

It’s time to gain some confidence! This talk will attempt to bring visual aesthetics and code together and to explain some of the most fundamental rules of art and visual design through Ruby: Using Ruby idioms, patterns and syntax we will try to clarify basics like hierarchy, composition, contrast and proportion using everyday interface–related problems as examples and hopefully take on an interesting journey through language, design and code.

You can find a “transcript” here: http://polarblau.com/2013/08/18/beautiful-rubyist.html

Transcript

1. “Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.” (RUMI)
6. LANGUAGE
8. Contextual learning
9. DESIGN
10. Semantic change
11. “Backlog”
12. “Design”
13. DESIGN & LANGUAGE
14. PROGRAMMING
15. Formal language
16. DESIGN vs. CODE
17. “Design is where science and art break even.” (ROBIN MATHEW)
18. “Real web designers write code. Always have, always will.” (JEFFREY ZELDMAN)
19. CODE vs. DESIGN
20. “Real web designers write code. Always have, always will.” (JEFFREY ZELDMAN) “We didn’t have a designer on the team.”
21. “Real web designers write code. Always have, always will.” (JEFFREY ZELDMAN) “This looks like an engineer built it, I know.”
22. “Real web designers write code. Always have, always will.” (JEFFREY ZELDMAN) “I can’t even draw, just quickly threw something together.”
23. “Real web designers write code. Always have, always will.” (JEFFREY ZELDMAN) “I’ve no talent for these kind of things.”
24. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” (STEPHEN KING)
25. PRINCIPLES of DESIGN
26. Elements of design
27. Line Color Shape Size Texture Space Direction Form …
28. PRINCIPLES of DESIGN
29. Scale & Proportion Unity Hierarchy Balance Emphasis Contrast Rhythm …
30. Simplicity vs. ornamentation
31. “Clutter and confusion are failures of design, not attributes of information.” (EDWARD TUFT)
34. Feature: Recover password In order to …
35. string.empty?
36. list << member
37. a, b = b, a
38. “Actually, I'm trying to make Ruby natural, not simple.” (MATZ)
39. drink! unless glass.empty?
40. “High performance computing requires high level of abstraction and that’s what makes languages like Ruby or even Python good.” (ARA T. HOWARD)
41. class User has_many :friends end
42. “Nature loves simplicity and unity.” (JOHANNES KEPLER)
44. Password Password confirmation
45. Password Show password?
46. Similarity
47. Gestalt theory
48. Proximity Similarity Continuation Repetition Closure
52. x = 42
53. duck.respond_to?(:quack)
55. Contrast
58. class Person def eat end private def digest end end
60. Hierarchy
62. <h1></h1> <h2></h2> <h3></h3> <h4></h4> <h5></h5> <h6></h6>
63. the beginning I am Alpha and Omega and the ending.
64. class Giraffe < Animal end
65. 1 2 3 4
66. …
67. We’re all designers — all day, every day. We do speak compatible languages. We can transfer knowledge. Talent is cheap. Learning is king.
68. @polarblau