Symmetry. Simplicity. Elegance. Patterns. Much of how we understand, describe, and value code is based on subjective criteria that are easy for us to grasp intuitively but almost impossible to define or communicate objectively. Can advances in applied aesthetics and theoretical neurology provide insights into the advantages and disadvantages of relying on such elusive criteria? Do mathematical and evolutionary theories indicate that our code evolves aesthetically to enhance its survivability, durability, and success?

This talk will explore the role that concepts such as beauty, sublimity, completeness and simplicity play in the way that we model reality in software, relate to our own and other people's code, and ultimately measure the value of our work as professionals.

There is often more than one way to do it. Some ways are better than others, and are favored for many reasons. Rails conventions and the way the framework "just works" can be handy in getting your app up and running. Other times Rails puts you in a very difficult spot, and simple, maintainable solutions appear out of reach.

One place where Rails feels very limiting is inside the controller. There is often an evolution in how we deal with these limitations when they arise. Frequently we settle for something that doesn't quite meet our needs. Don't worry! There is hope. We don't need an extra library or another complicated indirection. Using routes to their fullest can give you the power of dependency injection over your controllers.

Rubyists are famously polyglot. I've heard people joke that there are more JavaScript talks at some Ruby conferences than there are Ruby talks. But there's one area in which most Rubyists don't go: low-level programming. We often say "Ruby is slow, but that doesn't matter. I'll just drop down to C when I need performance." But C is pretty scary, so we never actually do it.

In this talk, Steve will show off Rust, a new programming language from Mozilla. Steve will show you how that saying should change: "drop down to Rust," and why it's better for Rubyists than C.

Service oriented systems have become hugely popular, and the golden age of the "monorail" is starting to end. Sometimes, these services can be fantastic, and other times not so much. Learning how to evaluate APIs and identify problem areas before jumping head first into development can save us frustration, time, and money. This session will walk through evaluating an API, best practices, and red flags, all from the standpoint of a developer consuming them. No matter your experience level, you'll leave with the skills to effectively tackle your next API.

As teams build and compose more services, their dependency on logging grows exponentially. Being able to quickly make use make use of those logs can easily mean the difference between quickly finding a bug and struggling to even understand it for weeks. For this reason, services that make their logging data easy to consume by tools result in "higher order logs", allowing the logs to be usable data rather than just walls of text.

In this talk, we'll go over:

 * Why you should use structured logs

 * How to add structured logs to ruby services

 * What you should log in the first place!

 * Tools and workflows to make use of those structured logs

Let's face it.

If you want to have a successful career in software development today, being a good coder doesn't just cut it anymore.

Sure, writing good code will help you keep your job, but there are plenty of good and great coders out there that you've never heard of, either looking for jobs, or unsatisfied with their current jobs.

If you really want to stand out and get noticed, you've got to learn how to promote yourself.

Great software developers can make as much as 4 to 5 times the salary of a good programmer. But, what makes a software developer great?

The problem is most companies don't know, so they go based on name and recognition.

If you have a solid brand and know how to market yourself correctly, employers, co-workers, and potential clients will view you as GREAT, not just good.

Billions of dollars are spent on marketing each year. Celebrities of all sorts enjoy fame and fortune that isn't necessarily related to theirs skills. Why?

Because marketing works, and like it or not, if you want move beyond a basic career and really open up opportunities for yourself, you've got to learn how to market yourself as a software developer.

In this session, I'll teach you some quick and easy things you can do to enhance the marketability of your skills and personal brand immediately and talk about some long term plans you can put into action so that everyone will know your name.

And this session isn't just for software developers. Any IT professional can benefit from learning these important skills for this rapidly changing game.'

A live coding session where a fresh Meteor.js app is built. Cordova support will be introduced and we will start building an isomorphic js app that will output an iOS app.

Learn how easy and quick it is to get Javascript, Node.js, Mongo, and Cordova working in harmony with Meteor.js.

The most critical and valuable life learnings of one of the most prominent open-source JavaScript developers, compressed into a 40 minute talk.  

You didn't need a full-blown MVC, you just wanted to add some nice interactive functionality to your server-rendered app. But then one jQuery plugin turns to three, add a dash of statefulness, some error handling, and suddenly you can't sleep at night.

We'll walk through using Ember Components to test-drive a refactor until your front-end code is understandable, usable, and extensible. Armed with TDD and components, you can start to get excited, not exasperated, when asked to add advanced client-side interactions to your website.

WebRTC promises awesomeness. Embedded audio/video and data transfer in every website! But the API's are note straight forward and require a complicated signaling process to work. SkylinkJS is an open-source project that makes leveraging the powers of WebRTC as easy as using JQuery.