Engine Yard Ruby on Rails Videos

Engine Yard Videos & Screencasts

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Recent Videos

• 

  Scaling your Rubyists: Dynamic Staffing for a Dynamic Language

  Cloud City Development put together a panel, hosted at Engine Yard, to discuss hiring and retaining experienced Ruby developers. The panel of four included Tom Mornini of Engine Yard, Rob Mee of Pivotal Labs, Christian Nelson of Carbon Five, and Tim Connor of Cloud City Development. The panelists shared their trials and triumphs, and revealed the secrets they’ve learned about hiring quality engineers in a niche where demand so vastly outstrips supply.

  Many thanks to Tim Connor for allowing us to share this video. You can view the original video here.

• 

  See a Clear Path to App Portability in the Cloud with Fog

  Quickly growing in popularity with Ruby developers, fog helps you interact with multiple cloud infrastructures easily. An abstraction layer to provision cloud resources across the increasingly vast array of cloud providers, fog provides a unified interface to ease migration between IaaS services and provides mocks to simplify development and testing. Fog currently supports: Amazon Web Services, Terremark, VMware vCloud, Rackspace, Blue Box, Go Grid, Linode, New Servers and Slicehost. Engine Yard also intends for fog to support OpenStack in the future.

  We invite you to join Wesley Beary, creator of fog and Engine Yard engineer, to learn how fog can help you move your app between more Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) technologies to prevent potential vendor lock-in. Fog is the ideal library to replace the use of IaaS specific-libraries because it ensures applications are deliberately independent from an IaaS vendor before they are deployed or migrated to the Cloud.

  Attendees will learn:

  • Modern tools you can use to provision and configure infrastructure to meet your needs.
  • How to move between clouds more flexibly to better meet the demands of your application.
  • How mock infrastructure can improve testing and speed the development of automation

• 

  Deploying, Monitoring and Troubleshooting Rails on the JVM with JRuby

  Using JRuby to run Rails applications on the JVM opens a whole new set of possibilities for deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting. We’ll discuss the synergies created by the combination of the JVM and Rails together, touching on topics such as true multi-threaded concurrency, memory management, and instrumentation. We’ll also walk through a demonstration of deploying, monitoring and troubleshooting a simple application using the available tools the JVM has to offer. Attendees will receive a demonstration of the following:

  • Package and deploy a Rails application to a Java application server<br />
  • Monitor the application under load using VisualVM<br />
  • Use JVM tools to troubleshoot and diagnose a memory leak

• 

  Bundler: Dependency Management Made Easy

  Bundler helps developers manage their gem dependencies in any Ruby application. It will be included in Rails 3, but can also be used with Rails 3, Rails 2, Sinatra, or any Ruby application with dependencies. Bundler can guarantee your application has the gems it needs to run, whether in development or production, all with a single command. Join Andre Arko, a member of the Bundler core team, to learn how Bundler can help you develop Rails applications faster (and with less pain from your dependencies).

  Attendees will learn:

  • Why you should use Bundler with all of your Ruby applications
  • How to set up and use Bundler effectively in common scenarios
  • How to integrate Bundler with Rails 3, Rails 2, Sinatra, or any generic ruby application
  • How Bundler is changing in the final 1.0 release, and plans for the future

• 

  Rubinius 1.0 Webinar with Evan Phoenix

  Download the source video at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/659785/Rubinius_Webinar.mp4

• 

  Rails 3 for Mobile Applications

  Yehuda Katz, Rails core team member and Engine Yard engineer details the most important attributes that Rails has to offer when building mobile applications, including:

  • Common development constraints of mobile applications
  • How Ruby on Rails uniquely addresses these common constraints
  • Key tools for successful mobile app development
  • What good mobile applications built using the guidelines above look like (and why they’ll stand the test of time)

  Slides can be downloaded at: http://pages.engineyard.com/rs/engineyard/images/Mobile_Webinar_Yehuda_6_10.pdf

• 

  Intro to Rails 3 Webinar

  A special preview of the upcoming Rails 3 release. Carl highlights key changes and new components in Rails 3 to demonstrate how developers can utilize these features to streamline development and boost productivity.

  Learn about:

  • A new plug-in system
  • Upgrading Rails 2.x applications
  • Library dependency management
  • ActionMailer API
  • XSS defense

  About Carl Lerche:

  Carl is a Ruby enthusiast, and recovering PHP developer. He spent the last year working on Rails 3 at Engine Yard. Carl’s been working with Ruby for over four years, and has completed several large-scale commercial sites in that time.

• 

  Debugging Ruby Systems: Understanding and Troubleshooting the VM and your Application

  The webinar will covers how to use powerful tools to see how your code is executed, so you can understand, debug and optimize it. Each tool will be presented with a variety of real-world examples of how it was used to solve problems in a popular library or application. The talk will covers techniques that can be used to troubleshoot production ruby deployments from three perspectives:

  The operating system and process
  The C code VM
  The Ruby code in application itself

  We also cover the following tools: lsof, strace, tcpdump, perftools, perftools.rb, ltrace, ltrace/dl, grb, grb.rb, bleakhouse, memprof, and rack-perftools_profiler.

  Slides can be downloaded at http://tmm1.net/ey-debugging-ruby.pdf

• 

  JRuby - Connecting the worlds of Java and Ruby

  Nick Sieger, JRuby Developer gives a taste of what Ruby, Rails and JRuby can do to make your life easier as a Java developer.

  This session includes:

  An introduction to the Ruby language: Learn how Ruby can make you more productive and write more readable and maintainable code

  An introduction to Rails: Learn how it speeds up web development

  An introduction to JRuby: Learn how to integrate existing Java code with just a few of lines of Ruby and how to use JRuby to extend existing Java applications with Ruby on Rails

  Slides can be downloaded at http://assets.engineyard.com/pdfs/webinar-slides-connecting-java-ruby.pdf

• 

  Rails Antipatterns - Open Session with Chad Pytel

  As developers worldwide embrace Ruby on Rails web framework, many have fallen victim to common mistakes that reduce code quality, performance, reliability and stability. In this session, Chad Pytel tackles some of these common mistakes and offers real-world approaches.

  Loaded with code samples, this session is ideal for anyone who is working in Rails.

  To access the slides go to: http://www.slideshare.net/engine_yard/rails-antiipatterns

  About the Presenter:
  Chad Pytel has twelve years of experience in tech support and software services, and is a skilled programmer and project manager. Chad is responsible for the day-to-day operations of thoughtbot and acts in an ongoing project lead role for many of our clients. He has co-authored two books: Rails AntiPatterns and Pro ActiveRecord for Ruby. Chad graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) with bachelor of science degrees in both Computer Science and Humanities and Arts (Drama/Theatre).

• 

  Developer and Digital Agency Partner Update | April 2011

  Update on Engine Yard Products, Roadmap, Open Source Projects and Training Program

  For Engine Yard’s Developer and Digital Agency Partners Only

• 

  RailsInstaller 1.1.1 Demo

  RailsInstaller 1.1.1 walkthrough, including interacting with github and the EngineYard AppCloud free trial.

• 

  How to make a good screencast

  Making Screencasts can be quick and easy if you do it right. Or, it can be the bane of your existence, and involve dozens of retakes, frustration, and second guessing.

  Watch this short screencast, about making screencasts, so you can make your own videos and submit them to Engine Yard University for publishing.

• 

  Deployments with Whiskey Disk

  Whiskey Disk is an opinionated deployment designed to simplify your deployment experience. The biggest difference that it boosts from other deployment tools (like Capistrano or Vlad) is that it keeps configurations in a separate git repository (you heard that right your configs are checked in). In addition it will automatically deploy the configurations with your code so no more manually copy configuration files to your servers.<br />
  <br />
  Whiskey Disk info: https://github.com/flogic/whiskey_disk <br />
  My Blog: http://www.codingforrent.com/ <br />
  Twitter: @codingforrent

• 

  Intro to Facebooker2

  An introduction to using Facebooker2 on Ruby on Rails. This Demo will walk you through how to install, configure, and start using Facebooker2 to connect your RoR application to Facebook.

• 

  JS tests with Jasmine

  his screencast introduces Jasmine, a JavaScript BDD testing framework similar to the beloved RSpec for Ruby.

  You will learn how to setup Jasmine, write and run specs and about the basic structure that Jasmine uses to organize your specs and the depending files.

  You can find the demo app written in this screencast on GitHub: https://github.com/walski/Jasmine-Demo

• 

  jQuery UI and the Autocomplete Widget

  This screencast introduces the jQuery UI through an autocomplete example. We are starting with a new Rails 3 application called Venuepedia and the text box will autocomple on a venue name. We will return json data from the controller to populate the text box.

  Basic knowledge of Rails 3 and JQuery is recommended.

• 

  Rails Validations

  After watching my Using Models screencast, you should watch this one, which is about validating a user’s entry. We will validate presence and links as examples.

• 

  Ruby - sort by

  Refactor a comparable/spaceship sorting example using sort_by

• 

  Ruby - spaceship operator for custom sorting

  I’ll demonstrate what the spaceship operator is, how it works, and to use it to create custom sorting for your collection of Ruby objects.

• 

  Ruby Class variables and class methods

  A small example demonstrating the use of class variables and class methods. You will also see how to use Array#sort_by

• 

  Introduction to Ruby Modules - Part 1

  Look at the basics of Ruby Modules. Using methods as class and instance methods.

• 

  Ruby Modules - Part 2

  I’ll take an ruby example with duplicated (un-DRY) code and clean it up using modules.

  You’ll see how you can use super to reuse module code.

• 

  Configurable Engine

  Configurable Engine is a gem for storning app-wide configurable variables. Things like your API credentials to various services. A reply to email, a list of options for a combo box. A boolean whether to display a particular section of your app or not. Configurable Engine gives you a simple way to set these variables, set up sensible defaults, and access them throughout your app.

  The Engine stores variables in ActiveRecord, and comes with a simple admin panel for your users to change their values.

  this short screencast is a quick overview and run through of how to get the engine installed and up and running.

  Get the gem and find out more at http://github.com/paulca/configurable_engine

• 

  SoundManager2

  This screencast demonstrates how to implement SoundManager2 into a Rails application.

• 

  Using Models

  An introductory tutorial on how Rails models work, creating records, updating records, and deleting records. This includes generating models and migrations.

• 

  Rails 3 Devise

  In this screencast I am going to demonstrate how to implement Devise in a Rails 3 application using the start of an admin panel as an example. I will also display a few of the helper methods provided by Devise.

• 

  EYU Cloud Based Learning Tools

  Engine Yard University’s Cloud Based Learning Tools. These tools make teaching and learning much easier as they completely remove all setup on a student’s machine. Everything is preconfigured.

• 

  John Dillon Vantage Partners Interview

  Vantage Partners Leadership Expert, April King, recently met with John Dillon, CEO of Engine Yard, a company that pioneered the Ruby on Rails application platform and tools. Dillon, a veteran of cloud services, shares what attracted him to Engine Yard, as well as his insight on the disruptive nature of the cloud.

• 

  Mountain Ruby 2010: Do not Bring a Sword to a Gun Fight

  Would you slay a buffalo with a spoon or pan for gold with a hammer? Let’s explore how you pick the right tool for the job.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Wayne E. Seguin speaking at Mountain Ruby 2010!

• 

  Mountain Ruby 2010: Staking your Claim in OSS

  Being successful in open source takes the right dash of hubris, patience, and pragmatism. Evan Phoenix will talk about how to run an open source project that can attract developers as well as users. We’ll be discussing everything from how to pick a good project to how to stay focused to how to transition yourself out a project.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Evan Phoenix speaking at Mountain Ruby 2010!

• 

  Mountain Ruby 2010: Panel Discussion

  Dr Nic Williams of Engine Yard leads a panel of Joe O’Brien, Sarah Mei, Evan Phoenix and Wayne Seguin on four controversial topics in the Ruby community.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Dr. Nic hosting a panel Mountain Ruby 2010!

• 

  RubyConf2010: JRuby Hacking Guide

  You know JRuby and you love JRuby, but you have no idea how to contribute. What’s a Rubyist to do? In this talk, JRuby core team members will give you a tour of the codebase, showing how JRuby parses Ruby code, implements Strings and other core classes, and eventually compiles and optimizes JRuby code on the JVM. You’ll learn how to debug JRuby, profile performance or memory hotspots, implement extensions in Java or Ruby, and ultimately how to contribute back to JRuby.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Charles Nutter and Thomas Enebo speaking at RubyConf 2010!

• 

  RubyConf2010: Rubinius - What Have You Done For Me Today?

  Rubinius continues to grow having hit 1.0 earlier this year. In addition to compatibility and performance, Rubinius also contains a whole host of APIs and tools for making your development better. These include memory inspectors, code debuggers, and much more. In this talk, Evan will discuss a number of these APIs and tools, showing how you can put them to use daily to improve your ruby development process.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Evan Pheonix speaking at RubyConf 2010!

• 

  RubyConf2010: Poisoning Rubinius: The _why and how.

  Before he vanished in a cloud of smoke and scattered bits, _why had been working on an interesting language experiment called Potion. The language borrows heavily from Io and Ruby but adds a few interesting features. One of these is an embedded data language built of things called Licks that permits easily defining tree data structures. Considering _why’s work an Shoes, it is likely that Potion was to be a new language for encouraging and enabling delightful experimentation and programming language pedagogy. Rubinius is an implementation of the Ruby programming language. However, under the hood Rubinius is a first-class virtual machine with a very fast bytecode interpreter, advanced garbage collector, and just-in-time (JIT) compiler which uses the terrific LLVM project. The Rubinius bytecode compiler and most of the Ruby core library is actually written in Ruby. Rubinius is an excellent platform to experiment with implementing other languages. Poison is an "interpretation" of Potion on Rubinius. It is an interpretation in the sense of a singer who interprets a song written by another author. Since _why did not finish Potion, there is room to extend the work he did. Rounding out the features in Poison give one an opportunity to ponder the decisions that _why made. We will take a look at some of the interesting elements of the Potion language and walk through the steps to implement a language like Potion on Rubinius. These steps would permit any aspiring language designer to have simple features of a new programming language executing in an afternoon.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Brain Ford Speaking at RubyConf 2010!

• 

  RubyConf2010: Self-Contained, Source-Free, Executable Ruby Applications with Warbler

  Have you ever wanted to write pure Ruby code and deploy it on a friend’s machine, a server, or some computer where you have little control? With Warbler you can pack a fully functioning application into a single file and run the application anywhere there is a JVM. Build micro webapps, background agents, environment monitors, utilities, or desktop applications that can be trivially deployed across a mixed computing environment. A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Nick Seiger Speaking at RubyConf 2010! Take Ruby where you previously could not, and leave your source code at home at the same time! We’ll discuss how Warbler, JRuby and the JVM are combined to make this happen, and show some examples where such a deployment scheme might make sense. Warbler started as a simple tool to package a Rails application into a single file. Soon after 1.0, Warbler was capable of embedding a minimal web server for fully-functional Rails application servers in a single file with compiled, obfuscated code. The 1.3 release available soon will allow bundling of any Ruby application with bin script and a gemspec or Gemfile into an executable.

  A big thanks to Confreaks for shooting this awesome video of Nick Seiger speaking at RubyConf 2010!

• 

  Selling Value For Fun and Profit with Randall Thomas

  If we focus on identifying and selling the value – the solution to a problem, the ability to overcome a technical challenge – we can obtain better deals, happier clients, and higher revenues.

• 

  2011 Tech Trend Predictions

  2011 Tech Trend Predictions with Engine Yard CEO, John Dillon.

• 

  The Most Disruptive Technology Since the PC

  The Most Disruptive Technology Since the PC with Engine Yard CEO, John Dillon

• 

  The Cloud as the Computing Platform

  The Cloud as the Computing Platform with Engine Yard CEO, John Dillon.

• 

  Freeing the Developer

  Freeing the Developer with Engine Yard CEO, John Dillon.

• 

  What is Engine Yard?

  What is Engine Yard? with Engine Yard CEO, John Dillon.

• 

  Jumpstart to Engine Yard Cloud

  A quick video showing how to get your app running on Engine Yard Cloud.

• 

  Learn to Build like you Code with Apache Buildr

  At an event hosted at LinkedIn on November 2, 2010, Antoine Toulme of Intalio gave a brief introduction to open-source build system Apache Buildr.

  Buildr is a build system for Java-based applications that is built on Ruby’s build system Rake, and uses Ruby as a scripting language.

  Here’s what you’ll get from this 13-minute presentation:

  • An Intro to Apache Buildr
  • A few code examples
  • A demo of Buildr in action

  Check out the slides from this presentation

• 

  Check out how LinkedIn uses JRuby on its Front-end

  At an event hosted at LinkedIn on November 2, 2010, Baq Haidri from LinkedIn gave us an inside look at how LinkedIn is using JRuby to iterate rapidly, re-use code, and leverage its Java-heavy codebase.

  In this 20 minute presentation, you’ll get:

  • An inside look into LinkedIn’s web application architecture
  • Code examples
  • Demo of a new LinkedIn product using JRuby

  Check out the slides from this presentation

• 

  Learn about JRuby Internals from JRuby Core Developer Thomas Enebo

  At an event hosted at LinkedIn on November 2, 2010, “JRuby Guy”, Thomas Enebo gave us an introduction to JRuby internals, and what about the intenals a new contributor might need to know to get started in contributing to the JRuby project.

  Check out the slides from this presentation

• 

  Replacing Java Incrementally with JRuby

  At an event hosted at LinkedIn on November 2, 2010, Noah Gibbs delivers a presentation on how On-Site.com is using JRuby to leverage its old Java codebase.

  Noah talks about:

  • The advantages of using JRuby to leverage a legacy Java codebase
  • Integration with JSP pages
  • Java models and Active Record wrappers
  • Calling Java-to-Ruby

  Get the slides from this presentation

• 

  The JRuby Testing Story – Ola Bini

  Testing is the most important activity in the development process. If you don’t test, how do you know that your code actually works correctly? And if you don’t have tests, how do you know you don’t break something?

  JRuby makes it possible to test Ruby code – but also to apply Ruby testing frameworks to Java code. This session will take a look at the current state of the start in JRuby testing, looking at how well the different frameworks work, and what you need to do to take your Java testing to the next century.

• 

  Your Customers Aren't Stupid and Your Coworkers Are Not Incompetent – Joe O'Brien

  Communication is hard. No doubt about it. Many of us, being geeks at heart, have an inherently difficult time communicating with people. Why is it that if we look around, it seems that all we see is incompetence? Why is it that we struggle to get our point across? Why do customers and bosses always seem stupid?

  In this talk we will focus on communication. How to more effectively listen and speak. We will discuss some patterns that we can look for in ourselves. We will talk about strategies on how can we take a step back and realize what it is we are trying to say and hopefully uncover what it is that our bosses and customers are really hearing.

  I will also walk you through strategies on how to have those difficult conversations and steps that I’ve learned through my years in sales, consulting, project management and business ownership.

• 

  So You Think You Need a Rewrite? – Chad Fowler & Rich Kilmer

  Your application is slowing down and you can’t seem to speed it up. The code is a mess, and changes are taking longer and longer. You’re afraid to release new features for fear of introducing bugs throughout the system. The marketing and sales teams are frustrated by how long new features are taking to release. All signs seem to point to the dreaded Big Rewrite.

  Big Rewrites are dangerous projects. The decision to rewrite shouldn’t be taken lightly. In this session, we will walk through the pros and cons of Rewrites and give real world examples of Rewrite strategies that work and that fail. From the first hint of a need for a rewrite, through the migration and deployment of the reincarnated system, we’ll share our victories, sorrows, joy, and pain.

  By the end of the session we hope you’ll have a better idea of how to approach The Big Rewrite the next time it rears its never-welcomed head and have a framework which increases your likelihood of success.

• 

  JRuby - Making the World Safe For Democracy – David Bock, Arild Shirazi

  In 1996, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. State department funded the development of an import/export control system for the newly formed nations. We were involved in that effort; a major multilingual Java/J2EE application deployed in 7 countries, spanning over 10 years of development. That project has had some great successes in its lifetime, including being a factor in Poland’s acceptance into NATO.

  Last year we were involved in a modernization effort for that project, including new functionality and an online web presence. Using JRuby, we were able to rapidly develop new features on top of an aging J2EE codebase. This is the story of our success with JRuby in a complex technical and political environment.

• 

  Bringing Java to the Ruby World – Bernerd Schaefer

  The discussion about JRuby has for a long time been focused on “Bringing Ruby to the Java World” – but no longer! With the release of “jruby-jars” – a gem containing a runnable version of JRuby available to any platform – the conversation has shifted. We’ll look at how akephalos (github.com/bernerdschaefer/akephalos) uses jruby-jars to bridge MRI and HtmlUnit (a pure Java library), and how you can start using JRuby today as a part of your MRI stack.

• 

  Mocks Suck (and what to do about it) – Brian Swan

  Mock Objects caught the developer imagination when they were introduced to the world in 2000 and there are mock object frameworks for almost as many languages as there are testing frameworks. Many teams however discover too late the pain caused by using mock objects in their tests; brittle tests, an increasing lack of confidence in the tests and an inability to safely refactor.

  This talk will explore the sources of pain caused by using mock objects and present an alternative that is increasingly gaining in popularity.

• 

  Ruboto: JRuby on Android – Charles Nutter

  The Android mobile platform has exploded in popularity since it was released. Android has become a major competitor to iPhone, with no end in sight. Unfortunately, to take advantage of the platform you needed to know Java…until now.

  JRuby works unmodified on Android, and so as part of the 2010 Ruby Summer of Code, we’ve started to put together a framework and generators for building Android apps entirely in Ruby. You can generate a new app, make your minor changes (or your full application), and then run a rake task to build the app itself. It’s the easiest way yet to build an Android application! This talk will show you the basics, from generating an app to using various Android libraries. Finally, we’ll build the application and show how to publish it to the marketplace.

• 

  Real Software Engineering – Glenn Vanderburg

  Software engineering as it’s taught in universities simply doesn’t work. It doesn’t produce software systems of high quality, and it doesn’t produce them for low cost. Sometimes, even when practiced rigorously, it doesn’t produce systems at all.

  That’s odd, because in every other field, the term “engineering” is reserved for methods that work.

  What then, does real software engineering look like? How can we consistently deliver high-quality systems to our customers and employers in a timely fashion and for a reasonable cost? In this talk, we’ll discuss where software engineering went wrong, and build the case that disciplined Agile methods, far from being "anti-engineering" (as they are often described), actually represent the best of engineering principles applied to the task of software development.

• 

  Extending Ruby – Jeremy Hinegardner

  In the same manner that Matz Ruby has C extensions, JRuby has Java extensions. Even though JRuby lets you use existing Java classes directly from Ruby you may still want to write a pure Java extension. This could be to have a higher performing ruby class or to make an existing Java class library more ‘ruby-esque’.

  My use case was to provide a seamless API for the Hitimes gem across all ruby engines.

  This talk will cover the facets of building Java extensions for JRuby and the burgeoning support for existing C extensions.

• 

  Testing – Why Don't We Do It Like This? – Jim Weirich

  This talk is about how to improve the way we do testing, how to move away from merely specifying how our software is implemented to capturing the true essence of how it should function.

• 

  Must. Try. Harder. – Keavy McMinn

  Based on her experience of training for Ironman distance triathlons, Keavy will discuss the preparation involved in pushing herself towards her own mental and physical limits, and the effects this has had on other areas of her work and life.

• 

  Rails 3 with A Double-Shot of JRuby – Nick Sieger

  The brand new Rails 3 release has an impressive array of improvements and new features, including full compatibility with JRuby from the onset. So what does running Rails 3 on the JVM with JRuby look like? A super-charged, caffeine-powered locomotive!

• 

  Business Ninja 101 - or how to make money in technology (...without violating geek ethics) – Randall Thomas

  It’s often the case that the difference between a thriving technology business and a bankrupt one has less to do with technology and more to do with the business of technology. In other words: if you’ve ever lost a Ruby contract to a company that specializes in COBOL (or god forbid, Cold Fusion) than this talk is for you; If you’ve ever had your team lead say “Ruby looks interesting, but I think we’ll stick with Perl” than this talk is really for you.

• 

  Java in Ruby: Suntory Time – Thomas Enebo

  One major benefit of JRuby is the ability to import Java classes and use them as if they were POROs (Plain Old Ruby Objects). This feature makes Java fun again. You can pull in legacy code and sculpt an API which fits nicely into your Ruby code. You can even access novel and unrivaled Java libraries to do something not currently possible in the Ruby world.

  By the end of this talk you should be able to effectively consume Java libraries in Ruby in a way that is satisfying and useful.

• 

  Change an Instance Size

  A quick guide on how to change the size of an instance. This video shows a change from small to medium but the principles are the same for any size change.

• 

  NEA 2010 Annuals: Cloud Computing

  Engine Yard CEO John Dillon discusses the benefits of Engine Yard’s cloud platform.

• 

  Expressive Languages for the JVM

  Charles Nutter discusses JRuby, which brings Ruby to the JVM; and Mirah, which attempts to implement Ruby’s apparent features directly atop JVM types and code.

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  Searching for Ruby on Rails-focused companies: Engine Yard

  Robert Scoble meets with Tom Mornini and Abheek Anand to learn about what’s happening in the San Francisco startup community.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: Customizing Rails Apps

  This week, we’re going to cover several Rails plugins that demonstrate some of the new features in Rails 3. In the screencast, we will show you how to use them. In the post, we’ll go into more detail about how they work internally.

• 

  Upgrading to Rails 3

  In this article, we’ll go through the main areas of Rails 3 that have seen major improvements. We’ll see how the evolution of Rails into its current mature form makes it easy to accomplish usual tasks, while also packing up new features any serious developer would appreciate.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: Extending the Router

  In this week’s post, we’ll be looking at the new Routing API in Rails 3. Other than handling all the basic routes efficiently, the new DSL also has some nice advanced features baked in that every developer will sure appreciate.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: The New ActiveRecord API

  ctiveRecord 3.0’s big new feature is a brand new finder API that is backed by ActiveRelation, or Arel for short. Arel is a Ruby implementation of relational algebra. This week’s screencast will be a hands-on demonstration of the new ActiveRecord finder API and an article that will cover the topic in further depth.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: A Whole New ActionMailer

  In this week’s screencast, I take you through a tour of the new ActionMailer features in the context of a live application. Read on after the screencast for more in-depth information on the topics covered in the screencast.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: Managing Gems With Bundler

  Rails 3 revolutionizes gem dependency management by including a new library called Bundler. This new system supersedes the old config.gem system that was built in to Rails 2.

• 

  Rails Dispatch: Build a Blog Update

  In this our first Rails Dispatch content push, we’ve got two great pieces of content for you: Rails 3 introduces a series of brand new features that will make your Rails applications better and your experience more pleasant. In today’s post, I’m going to cover some of the most important improvements in Rails 3, and show how you can take advantage of those improvements today.

• 

  Setup Performance Monitoring with New Relic RPM

  AppCloud Screencasts present a guide to using New Relic RPM with any application you host on Engine Yard’s AppCloud service. With New Relic RPM you can profile the performance of your application and find bottlenecks. For more information about New Relic check out their site at newrelic.com.

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  An Introduction to Engine Yard AppCloud

  Learn the basics of how Engine Yard’s AppCloud works, from forking a github repository, deploying, running rake tasks on your instance, and spinning up / sizing new cloud instances.

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  RailsConf 2010: Evan Phoenix

  Engine Yard’s Open Source Love Affair

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  RailsConf 2010: Yehuda Katz

  This was an awesome keynote by an inspiring speaker. This speech embodied the “one person can make a difference” call to action motif of the whole conference.