Post Conference Notes From All Over

Just a couple of quick things to get out of my system as I recover from the 2007 MountainWest RubyConf:

• The conference was great! I loved (almost) every minute of it — it took me an hour or two to get past my anxiety about whether or not it was going to come off.
• I'm working with RubyCentral to organize our participation in the Google Summer of Code. If you're interested in submitting a project, check out our page of ideas (don't worry, you're free to run with your own ideas if you'd rather) then go fill out an application.
• I've started working on an Amazon hosted book store — I'll only be putting books there that I really think are worthwhile. I don't make a ton of money from Amazon, but it certainly helps me justify spending time on this blog and my other (unpaid) writing.
• I'm getting back in to the swing of tumble blogging over at my tumble blog. I just flat out didn't have any time over the last week or so.
• I'm also in the middle of tech reviewing two great looking Ruby books. Neither publisher has announced them yet, but as soon as they do I'm ready to tell you just how cool they are.

Okay, it's time to get some real work done. I'll be posting again (and more substantively soon.

More About SoC and Ruby (Get Ready for the Proposal Window)

Google hasn't announced their final selection yet for mentoring organizations, but I'm operating under the assumption that we will be. Given that, this is the time for people to start putting together proposals for student projects. The window is only about a week long, and is opens up in just a couple of days.

We've got mentoring volunteers from the JRuby, RoR, rubinius, ruby, and Xruby communities, so don't feel constrained to any particular field. On the other hand, projects that are liable to benefit the largest possible group of users are certainly going to get some extra karma.

If you're not a student, but have a great idea, feel free to toss it out for discussion. Who knows, maybe someone will pick it up and run with it.

Ruby in Google's Summer of Code 2007

Google's Summer of Code is almost upon us. Ruby Central is once again planning to act as the mentoring organization for Ruby.

For Ruby to be represented again this year, we need mentors. If you're interested in helping a college student work on a project using (or benefitting) Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Jruby, rubinius, or any of the other insanely cool Ruby environments please send me an email right away. We need to get our application turned in this week (before March 12).

Google will post the list of mentoring organizations on March 14th. Google will be accepting student proposals March 15-24, so, if you're a student, this is the time to start putting together a proposal.

Check out th Summer of Code FAQ, Advice for Mentors, and/or Advice for Students.