---
title: RailsConf 2009 Wrapup
teaser:
tags: news,web
author: Nick Quaranto
published_on: 2009-05-12
---
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/konklone/3520474245/)
Now that the fun and games are over and the Rails world is returning to work,
this is a great time to appreciate some of the wisdom that was imparted to us
last week during RailsConf. We'd also like to thank those who showed up for the
[Poker
Tournament](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/vanquish-thoughtbot-at-the-poker-table)
and made it a great time for all.
If you missed the conference, be sure to check out the [keynotes at
blip.tv](http://railsconf.blip.tv/) and also [my expansive set of
notes](http://litanyagainstfear.com/blog/2009/05/05/railsconf-2009-notes/) on
the talks I attended.
Now, the tiny robots have some reflections on what they've learned and would
like to share:
## Nick
One of my favorite talks was Scott Chacon's [Smacking Git
Around](http://litanyagainstfear.com/blog/2009/05/05/railsconf-2009-smacking-git-around/).
It was a great source of information for those new to Git and those who have
been using it for a while. Also, [Rack has seriously
arrived](http://rack.rubyforge.org/) in the Ruby world and is pretty much
essential to learn.
## Matt
You'll think I'm kidding, because of
[this](http://search.twitter.com/search?q=+ferriss+%23railsconf), but the Tim
Ferriss keynote (fireside chat?) was probably the best part of RailsConf.
Please understand that I do 600 pushups on the roof top of my apartment building
every morning at 3:30AM though, so your mileage may vary. I also change my own
oil in my car—which has a quarter million miles on it and still runs like
a champ.
## Jon
[Uncle Bob's](http://blog.objectmentor.com/) keynote was one of the best
keynotes I've heard at a RailsConf. While he was preaching to the choir a bit
about TDD, it needed to be said.
Plus the idea that not only is professionalism important, but it's not the
stodgy three-piece-suit some people seem to think it is, is a meme that needs
circulating.
In that light, [Ezra's talk (partially) about automated and verifiable server
deployments](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/schedule/detail/7897) as
well as Marty Andrew's talk about [automated code quality
metrics](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/schedule/detail/6752) spoke a
bit more to me than they probably would have (although they would have been
interesting on their own, regardless!)
Of course, nothing will top Eric Torrey's explanation of why fixing the problem
at its root is better than temporary fixes:
## Jason
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ig/3505365262/)
My favorite three things that I learned about at RailsConf were learning how to
monitor and manage distributed computational tasks using Amazon Web Services
with Matt Wood's [Mission
Control](http://github.com/mza/mission-control/tree/master), using FunFX to
[test your Flash (and Flex) applications with
Cucumber](http://wiki.github.com/aslakhellesoy/cucumber/funfx-and-flex), and
[running Rack apps on Google
AppEngine](http://code.google.com/p/appengine-jruby/wiki/GettingStarted) with
some helpful [related
tools](http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/04/datamapper-datastore-reggae).
## Mike
The most interesting talk for me was the [What Makes Ruby Go: An Implementation
Primer](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/schedule/detail/8680) talk, where
we learned how Object#extend can kill your method cache and just how slow global
constants really are. Other highlights include seeing the toad from Hoptoad on
the big screen while I learned about the ins-and-outs of using Rack in Rails,
and seeing all the people I only get to see at Rails conferences.
## Chad
As mentioned above, Rack is where its at, and it will continue to enable a lot
of coolness in Rails. One of the best talks I've seen on Rack, at any
conference, was [And the Greatest of These Is ... Rack
Support](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/schedule/detail/7717), by Ben
Scofield. A lot of the Rack talks I've seen have been rather abstract to date.
Things have started to clearly started to gel with Rack, and Ben was able to
give an excellent, concise overview of the current capabilities of Rack support
in Rails, and some ways in which it can be used.
## Joe
[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ig/3504541863/)
I enjoyed [Automated Code Quality Checking In Ruby And
Rails](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2009/public/schedule/detail/6752) - it gave us
the kick we needed to add code quality tools to our CI process. I also found out
about some tools (like Roodi) that I had never heard of before. As usual,
though, my favorite part was being able to discuss code with the author in
person, as well as getting to see some of the people in our community that I
only see at conferences.