On today’s episode, Chris and Andrew have an early start and catch up on their lives. Then, they dive deep into the latest developments in the Rails community, including the release of Rails 7.0.6, bug fixes, and changes to Active Record.  They share their experiences with GitHub deployments, documentation issues, and how they navigate through its challenges. They discuss the benefits of MySQL and Postgres, as well as the ongoing advancements in Postgres, specifically Crunchy Data’s contributions.  Chris and Andrew share their views on working in different company sizes, the joys of learning new things, dealing with burnout, and the slower pace of feature shipping in larger companies. There’s a discussion on Reddit’s recent actions, its impact on subreddit moderations, and the discontinuation of the Reddit API. We’ll also hear about Chris’s cooking adventures, experimenting with different flavors, and making some Texas Twinkies. Hit download to hear more! [00:02:00] Chris and Andrew talk about the release of Rails v7.0.6 with bug fixes and changes in libraries like Action Cable and Active Record, including subqueries and associations with polymorphic relationships.[00:06:10] Andrew is curious about the GitHub deployment stuff and expresses his desire to create GitHub deploys from Heroku. They talk about the complexities of setting up GitHub deployments and the lack of clear information from GitHub, and how the documentation with Checks API can be confusing to set up. [00:09:49] Chris discusses the challenges of figuring out GitHub’s deployment process and the lack of documentation. He expresses frustration with the lack of clarity and support for smaller accounts. [00:14:41] PlanetScale is brought up and its association with MySQL, and they discuss the benefits of MySQL and Postgres, and the new features and advancements in Postgres, including Crunchy Data’s contributions and the potential use of Postgres in web environments. [00:17:43] Chris shares a fun story about working on implementing jump server support in the new Hatchbox.  They encountered unexpected complexities with the net-ssh gem to address the problem. [00:29:51] Chris emphasizes the importance of being mindful of memory usage and performance trade-offs and how it becomes more critical when building large-scale products. [00:31:59] Andrew mentions that releasing features can be challenging and Podia is currently facing that challenge with releasing a feature while also building onto it. He emphasizes the importance of coordination, communication, and learning from code to recognize and solve problems faster. [00:33:46] Chris reflects on his experience working at a consulting agency and how it allowed him to learn quickly by facing different projects and finds joy learning new things as a programmer. [00:34:43] We hear Andrew talk about feeling stuck in a job, comparing small companies which offer more challenges, to big companies where employees get stuck doing the same tasks, and Chris tells us he’s happiest when learning new things and how it accelerates burnout.[00:35:57] Chris discusses the challenges faced by big companies when it comes to feature shipping due to the need to ensure existing users are not negatively impacted, and Andrew highlights the varying levels of impact when breaking code and emphasizes the importance of being able to find and fix bugs quickly. [00:39:00] We hear about Chris’s mad co Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

In today’s episode, Jason, Chris, and Andrew kick it off with a discussion about their work environments, seating options, and Andrew’s hilarious story about going to IKEA, pencil behind his ear, tape measure, and his Mustang, to buy a new couch. We shift gears (see what we just did there) to the recent buzz surrounding the Rails World event and some speculations about Rails 7.1 features, and Chris tells us about Rails Hackathon that’s coming up in July.  From there, we move into a more personal space as Jason shares his experience of shifting from coding to manager and the associated challenges, the productivity debate, and how we handle our time allocation between coding and managerial tasks.  We wrap up with reflections on career progression, with Jason’s return to coding from management acting as an inspiration for others. Hit download now for an episode filled with humor, technical talk, and personal journeys in the world of coding. [00:00:58] Chris reveals he has acquired a new chair that belonged to his wife, leading to a discussion about comfortable seating options available on Amazon. Then the conversation turns towards their cars, as Andrew shares a funny story about his Mustang, which turns into a debate about the Mustang Mach-E.[00:04:42] There’s a conversation about the recent excitement surrounding the Rails World event which sold out very quickly. If you missed out getting tickets, you can sign up for RubyConf in San Diego.  [00:07:15] Andrew wonders why it sold out so fast, and Chris and Jason believe it’s the first official Ruby on Rails event, the size of the event, and the involvement of the creator of Rails as contributing factors to the excitement. They also speculate about the release of Rails 7.1 and other upcoming features in the Rails ecosystem. [00:11:00] Andrew shares a trick he stole from Ben that invalidates the bundle cache and re-downloads every gem on the system from scratch whenever Bundler is run. Chris brings up a Tweet that humorously tells Linux users to remove the French language pack, which is a trick to delete all files on the system. [00:11:56] Chris brings up another Tweet at GoRails about Homebrew issues related to using backups from an Intel Mac on an Apple silicon Mac. [00:12:54] Chris tells us they launched their new updated version of the Rails Hackathon site which will be going on July 28-30, 2023.[00:16:56] Jason shares that he’s been more focused on project management than coding recently. Chris expresses that he still measures his productivity by how much code he wrote even though he does more management tasks now, and Andrew confesses to having backfilled his GitHub commit history. [00:21:01] Jason shares his experience of shifting from being a coder to a manager, and Chris questions Jason about the division of his time between coding and managing.[00:22:52] Chis shares how his productivity is also affected by various distractions and struggles of getting back into the zone after being interrupted.  [00:24:04] Jason explains that Podia was very supportive of his transition to management and understood that his output would be different. He found it challenging to adjust and decided that he wasn’t interested in management at that point in his career and prefers problem-solving with code. Andrew shares his greatest output comes from working with other people.[00:27:04] Jason shares how he thought the only way to advan Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

In this engaging conversation, Andrew, a recent code refactoring enthusiast, and Chris, a programming aficionado, dive into their journeys in Ruby programming. They share the complexities and satisfaction of optimizing code, discussing the elegance of removing conditionals. The duo also explores Ruby Infinity and its impact on performance. They reflect on childhood music preferences while humorously contemplating starting a band. Plus, Jason reveals plans for a Southeast Ruby conference, emphasizing the importance of community in programming.

In this episode, Chris and Andrew have a candid discussion about their programming experiences, the demanding nature of their jobs, and the joy and complexity of coding.  They have a conversation on challenges with dependencies, the new branch settings on GitHub, TypeScript, JavaScript, and the functionality and benefits of using JSDoc. They also dive into the importance of flexibility in code, the evolution of coding practices, their preference for smart editors that provide real time updates, and the topic on the use of AI tools in programming is discussed and whether AI assists or inhibits the developer’s thought process. Also, Andrew tells us about Prefab, a cool Rails tool he recently discovered and found very useful. Hit download to hear more! [00:00:35] Andrew tells us he has an app to monitor his activity and sometimes finds himself working for 11 hours straight, and Chris reminisces about the early days of learning to code and the excitement of late night programming. [00:04:58] Chris was struggling with dependencies in his work and considers writing his own basic glob functionality. [00:11:38] The guys discuss the utility of new branch settings on GitHub, and Andrew tells us he made his own commitlit config and updated his prettier config on his GitHub. [00:12:52] They move onto the topic of JavaScript and TypeScript, bringing up JSDoc, and Andrew explains the functionality and benefits of using JSDoc. He shares his discovery that JSDoc can be used to add TypeScript functionality without writing TypeScript, primarily using type comments. [00:16:47] Chris notes that this approach allows for middle ground between JavaScript and TypeScript, enhancing editor hints without the complexity of a fully typed language. [00:22:50] Chris tells us his journey began in college where he learned multiple languages such as Ruby, Python, C, and Visual Basic. He emphasizes the importance of flexibility in code, allowing it to evolve over time. [00:25:18] Andrew shares his dislike for Sorbet and talks about his preference for Solargraph in VS Code, a language server that uses YARD docs for typing.  He’s found this useful in his work, particularly when refactoring. [00:27:55] We hear about the greatest code Andrew’s ever written, and Chris and Andrew discuss the use of dynamic languages and how it’s crucial not to lose the essence of languages like Ruby by over-imposing typing. [00:33:49] Chris discusses the use of AI tools in programming, such as GitHub’s Copilot, and notes that while they’re useful in generating codes, but they may limit the developer’s thought process since they tend to rely on AI’s suggestion without thinking through the problem. [00:37:26] Andrew explains why he showed Chris some documentation he generated from ChatGPT 4, and they both agree that AI-powered tools can make documentation more efficient. [00:46:53] Andrew talks about his experience with Product Hunt, and a very useful Rails tool he recently discovered called prefab.cloud, which allows developers to target their Rails logs for specific user issues.[00:53:12] Chris and Andrew discuss the difficulty of dealing with Twitter API and Reddit API pricing, lamenting the high costs for developers. They also talk about their frustrations with companies that acquire and shut down successful third-party apps instead of supporting them.Panelists:Chris Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

On this episode of Remote Ruby, Chris and his GoRails team is taking over since Jason and Andrew are traveling. Today, Chris has joining him Kent Crutchfield, who’s a customer service expert for GoRails, and Collin Jilbert, who’s a Ruby/Rails Dev at GoRails.  As we kick off this episode, we start by exploring a captivating debugging situation involving GoRails servers, the C language, and the operating system Kernel. Chris and Collin discuss their ongoing Hatchbox integration project, and Kent’s expert handling of complex tasks. We also hear about Chris’s new interactive forum series coming out soon, some advice for aspiring coders, and there’s a discussion around tools like GitHub Copilot and their potential impact on developers’ growth.  We’ll wrap things up with Kent sharing his favorite part about joining the team, the rewarding experiences he’s had, and the sheer love for his work in Ruby and Rails.  Hit download to hear much more! [00:00:58] Kent shares his background in customer support and how he started working at GoRails. [00:02:49] Chris and Collin discuss a challenging debugging situation they had to solve involving the C language, GoRails servers, and the operating system Kernel. They also remember a previous conversation regarding the complexities of CSS optimization at scale based on a talk from a GitHub employee. [00:07:50] The team has been working on Hetzner integration for Hatchbox, and despite the complexities of Hatchbox, Kent finds the challenges interesting and satisfying to overcome. He also highlights there are GoRails beginner-friendly content and new learning paths.[00:09:51] Chris is close to completing a new forum series for their learning path, transitioning from a blog format. The forum has topics, posts, and other features. He plans to add videos to their learning videos to their learning content in the future.[00:13:54] Collin and Chris discuss the importance of a practical approach to feature building, starting with the basics, and evolving through identifying potential issues and edge cases as they arise. [00:16:38] Kent suggests sticking to Rails defaults as much as possible and avoiding AWS for beginners. He also mentions that a lot of issues arise when users try to implement fancier features. [00:18:16] They discuss the SSL configuration complexity, Cloudflare’s role as a proxy, and its implications on the application. Chris mentions the exceptional performance of Caddy in automating the SSL certification process and migrating problems related to domain set-up. [00:25:28] Kent shares some advice for aspiring coders to be consistent, read books, watch instructional videos like GoRails, and build something, no matter how small. Chris emphasizes the importance of learning how to debug.[00:30:59] Collin expresses concern that tools like GitHub Copilot might hinder developers’ growth by offering ready-made solutions without a thorough understanding of the problem, and Chris suggests that Copilot is useful for repetitive tasks. [00:33:22] The discussion evolves around the importance of understanding the underlying code versus just getting a task done. Chris and Collin imply that this depends on the programmer’s immediate goal, whether it’s to ship the product quickly or to build something that won’t break in the future. [00:39:10] What’s been Kent’s favorite thing about coming onto the team? He tells us it’s learning Ruby and Ra Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

The conversation kicks off with quirky reviews of shows like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'Seinfeld.' Exciting news emerges with the introduction of Ruby 3.3 Preview 1, highlighting performance boosts and new features. They tackle the hurdles of implementing autosave and error handling in Rails applications, while comparing Ruby with Laravel. The pals share laughs about the nuances of software development and discuss the challenges of using serverless functions and various hosting options. Tune in for insights, humor, and tech revelations!

On this episode of Remote Ruby, the guys discuss various topics relating to hosting options, web frameworks, open source projects, and give us a recap on RailsConf 2023.  They dive into the pros and cons of serverless architectures like Lambda, Jason’s experience with Roda, their interests in front-end technologies and JavaScript integration in Rails, and Andrew tells us about regex for playground. We’ll hear their thoughts on RailsConf, their favorite talks, Chris’s workshop, things that could have been better, and the importance of community contributions, transparency, and the need for clearer communication. Also, if you missed this RailsConf, they mention some other conferences coming up, so hit download to hear more![00:00:10] Chris brings up the blog post on Amazon’s AWS blog which sparks a discussion about the effectiveness of serverless architectures like Lambda. [00:02:02] The conversation shifts to Jason telling us his experience with building a microservice using Roda. Then he tells us the benefits of Roda and compared it to Sinatra, and now Andrew wants to upgrade his Sinatra app to Roda since Jason had such a positive experience.[00:05:48] Cloudflare Workers, Puppeteer, Rust and JavaScript are discussed. [00:09:06] Chris shares his thoughts on RailsConf, mentioning attendance was smaller than expected. The guys also bring up that there was no hallway track and the spread out nature of the event, which made it less conducive to casual networking and impromptu conversations. Chris enjoyed the keynotes and attending a talk by Jordan Burke on hosting with Hatchbox, Fly , and Render. [00:12:10] There’s a conversation on the need for more direction and talks on front-end technologies and JavaScript integration in Rails, and where to go if you want to learn more about these topics and contribute to the community. [00:14:26] Chris shares his takeaway from RailsConf, mentioning his interest in reading Rails commits daily to stay up to date with the community’s progress. He also talks about his favorite part of the conference was an encounter with a Lightning Talk presenter who worked on the same project he did 13 years ago.  [00:17:16] Jumpstart Pro has been updated to Rails 7.1 and we hear the changes, and the conversation shifts to regex and a tool Andrew finds useful called “iHateRegex” and “regex for playground” that helps visualize regular expressions. [00:21:19] At RailsConf, Chris gave his first ever workshop with Colin Loretz. The talk focused on Webhooks and their handling in Rails and Chris made a screencast of the workshop and integrated the code into Jumpstart Pro.[00:26:06] Chris and Andrew talk about needing more scholars and promotions for the guide program at RailsConf. Also, they liked how there was a huge emphasis on Junior developers this year.  [00:29:03] Ruby Central is talked about and how more clarity regarding how community contributions are used, and they mention the change in leadership within Ruby Central and the impact it has had on the community. [00:38:24] The guys talk about all the upcoming conferences, including RailsConf and RubyConf. and Andrew shares his experience with social anxiety during the conference.[00:43:25] Chris mentions a hearing a rumor about Rails 7.1 shipping very soon, and Andrew tells us Jason dunked on him at RailsConf in front of everybody. [00:46:49] We end with the guys expr Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

This is a special episode from RailsConf 2023 Atlanta, where we’re having a Ruby Community Podcast LIVE!  Today, we have on the panel Brittany Martin, Co-host of The Ruby on Rails Podcast, our very own Jason Charnes, and Paul Bahr, Audio Editor from Peachtree Sound, who edits over a dozen tech podcasts. We also have some great guests joining us: Aaron “tenderlove” Patterson, Irina Nazarova, Justin Searls, and Britni Alexander, who was selected by the audience to be our fourth guest. Today, our guests share some stories about who they are and what they do, give shout-outs, and answer questions from our audience.  Hit download now to hear more! [00:04:30] We start with Aaron “Tenderlove” Patterson, sharing the origin of his nickname. [00:06:05] Since Aaron has switched companies over the years, he tells how his job has changed a lot, and how he spends one hundred percent doing open source at Shopify. [00:08:05] A question from the audience comes up on what Aaron is looking most forward to working on this year. He mentions some spoilers. [00:10:38] Since Aaron has been working Ruby and Rails for so long, Brittany asks if there’s ever been a community that may have tempted him to leave. His answer is no.  [00:11:44] Aaron leaves us with a shout-out to Mushroom Hunting since he is a mycologist.  [00:12:46] Our next guest is Irina Nazarova, co-founder of Evil Martians, who tells us she had a dream that Brittany would invite her on a podcast. [00:15:44] Irina explains that consulting allows them to understand user needs, which they use to build useful tools.[00:16:44] She explains the open source products they build are a byproduct of consulting work, and they allocate resources to work on them once they show traction.[00:18:44] The focus here is on startups and if she recommends Ruby and Rails to startups.  [00:19:51] An audience question comes up for Irina on how does Evil Martians foster the environment for a great company blog? She tells us about her great editors and the blog articles that bring value to the company. [00:21:23] Irina makes a shout-out for people to support Ukraine during the war.[00:23:18] Next, we have joining us Justin Searls, co-founder of Test Double, and Britni Alexander, former employee at Mailchimp. They introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about what they do. [00:27:48] Justin discusses his favorite talk he’s given, “How to Scratch an Itch.”[00:29:14] Britni tells us her ideal job and her struggle to balance being kind and direct. [00:30:05] Justin tells us about an upcoming project called, N.E.A.T, which is focused on discussing ways to make software better that are not related to technology. [00:32:15] Britni talks about what her ideal job would be. [00:33:05] We hear about the RubyKaigi conference in Japan and Justin’s plans to attend and report on it. [00:35:30] Britni gives a shout-out to her friend Eileen for being her friend, and Justin expresses his gratitude for the opportunities and connections he’s gained through the Ruby community. Moderator:Brittany MartinPanelists:Jason CharnesPaul BahrGuests:Aaron PattersonIrina NazarovaJustin SearlsBritni Alexander Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

On this episode of Remote Ruby, Jason, Chris, and Andrew welcome guest, Amir Rajan, an indie game developer and owner/CEO of DragonRuby LLP. Today, our conversations revolve around game development using RubyMotion and DragonRuby.  We’ll hear how Amir built a successful iOS game called, A Dark Room, using RubyMotion, and his experience with RubyMotion and its expansion to target other platforms, leading to the creation of DragonRuby Game Toolkit. There’s a discussion on the challenges of targeting different platforms and the benefits of DragonRuby’s data-oriented API, scalability, and continuity of design. Amir touches on the benefits of game development, the possibility of making a living from it, and he shares some advice for indie game developers. The importance of sustainability in open source development is emphasized, and Amir tells us about some upcoming features in DragonRuby, and he explains his reasoning for charging for DragonRuby. Hit download to learn more!  [00:01:28] Amir talks about his experience using RubyMotion to build a successful iOS game called, A Dark Room, and about acquiring RubyMotion and expanding its runtime to target other platforms, which led to the creation of DragonRuby Game Toolkit. [00:06:21] When it comes to RubyMotion, Amir explains that you still need to learn some of the iOS frameworks to implement it in Ruby.[00:09:10] We hear Amir’s thought process behind acquiring RubyMotion and how taking over a runtime has been for him. He emphasizes the importance of understanding foreign function interfaces and building C extensions in Ruby to take advantage of battle-hardened C libraries. Also, there’s a great book he read that really helped him understand the machinery and language called, Ruby Under a Microscope. [00:11:52] Amir discusses the challenges of targeting different platforms with RubyMotion and the difficulties of integrating new language enhancements into the runtime. [00:14:02] We learn how DragonRuby utilizes MRuby to create a multi-level runtime that handles constructs that don’t exist on different platforms and 90komprovides a cross-platform experience for game development without any assumptions about the platform.[00:19:15] Amir dives into the problem DragonRuby solves and why someone would want to use it, besides it being awesome and that you get to build video games in Ruby.[00:21:59] Jason loves how simple DragonRuby is to get started so Amir explains the simplicity behind it versus Unity.  The continuity of design is emphasized which allows developers to start with simple solutions and expand as necessary. [00:27:30] The conversation touches on the benefits of game development and the possibility of making a living from it. Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter

Bet? On this episode of Remote Ruby Jason and Andrew make a bet. The timer is set for ten minutes, and if Andrew loses, Jason gets to find out his mysterious middle name. Cleophus, Herkimer, Phalange??? The question is, will Jason find out?  In the meantime, we’re very excited to welcome our special guest, Amanda Perino, who’s the Executive Director for The Rails Foundation.  Today, we’ll discuss The Rails Foundation, some initiatives that are underway, such as Rails World Conference scheduled for October 2023 in Amsterdam, some things in the works with improving documentation, and how the Rails Foundation is looking for more ways to involve Junior Developers in Ruby and Rails. Hit download to learn more! [00:02:23] Amanda tells us about her background and how she got involved with The Rails Foundation. [00:06:20] Let’s find out Amanda’s thoughts on the direction she’s going for improving documentation, and she mentions React.dev.[00:14:13] The conversation shifts to Rails World, an upcoming conference for Ruby on Rails, scheduled for October 2023 in Amsterdam.  Amanda talks about the strategy work she’s doing for it right now, what kind of vibe she’s looking for at it, and how it’s going to have two tracks and a hangout space. [00:22:45] What’s next for the conference with planning for Amanda that she’s focusing on right now? She announces three big things: getting registration up and running, forming a mentorship training thing with the Junior Developer, and getting sponsors. [00:23:31] Jason mentions how awesome it is that The Rails Foundation said they want a Junior Developer to help build their site. Amanda tells us that they’re looking for ways to provide opportunities to Junior Devs, and she brings up some other initiatives that inspired her such as, Beginner Bounties, The Agency of Learning, and First Ruby Friend.[00:24:56] Amanda explains there are sponsorship opportunities outside of sponsoring The Rails Foundation, as well as opportunities sponsoring the event itself. [00:25:47] Jason wonders if there’s any plans for any type of individual sponsorships or if it will stay at the company level with The Ruby Foundation, and if there are other people or individual developers who want to support the foundation can help.[00:27:57] Amanda talks about the work being done in each of the pillars in The Rails Foundation, and she shares her ideas for the marketing initiative.[00:30:30] There’s a conversation about the supportive and friendly nature of the Ruby and Rails community.Panelists:Jason CharnesChris OliverAndrew MasonGuest:Amanda PerinoSponsor:HoneybadgerLinks:Jason Charnes TwitterChris Oliver TwitterAndrew Mason TwitterAmanda Perino TwitterAmanda Perino LinkedInThe Rails FoundationReact.dev Jason Charnes X/Twitter Chris Oliver X/Twitter Andrew Mason X/Twitter