Ruby GUI Desktop Development Hands-On Tutorial

Doors open at 6:00pm. Talk starts at 7:00pm. Extra hacking and networking time starts at 8:00pm.

Ruby GUI Desktop Development Hands-On Tutorial (60m) - Andy Maleh - Senior Software Engineer - Lexop

Bring your laptop and learn how to instantly build Desktop GUI Applications in Ruby with a hands-on tutorial that teaches the basics of Glimmer DSL for LibUI, a Ruby gem that won a Fukuoka Ruby 2022 Special Award by Matz, the creator of Ruby, after it was presented to him and the Fukuoka Ruby judges in 2022. Desktop Development provides the simplest case of Visual Development of GUI (Graphical User Interface), so learning it transfers into better Web Development skills as well. Software Engineers who know Desktop Development make much better Web Developers. Everyone will walk out of this tutorial knowing how to build a simple Desktop Application in Ruby.

Desktop Applications provide the foundation of every full-size computer Operating System, such as Mac, Windows, and Linux. Desktop Applications cover many areas like image processing (e.g. Photoshop), office productivity (e.g. Microsoft Office), personal management (e.g. Mac Calendar), web browsing and web-development-support (e.g. Chrome, meaning all Web Surfers & Web Developers use a Desktop Application whether they realize it or not), file system exploration (e.g. Finder), command line execution (e.g. Terminal), games (e.g. Solitaire), software development (e.g. RubyMine), database management (e.g. Toad), platform monitoring (e.g. Activity Monitor), and operating system configuration (e.g. System Settings).

Before arriving at the meetup, make sure to install the cross-platform Glimmer DSL for LibUI Ruby gem on your laptop by running `gem install glimmer-dsl-libui`, and then running `glimmer examples` to verify the ability to run a Ruby Desktop Application successfully. You may contact the project owner if you run into any setup issues before the meetup.

After the tutorial is done, all attendees are welcome to optionally stay and hack on their laptops while asking questions and getting help with building their own Desktop Application ideas.

Speaker Bio:

Andy Maleh is a Fukuoka Ruby 2022 Special Award winner for Glimmer DSL for LibUI (Prerequisite-Free Ruby Desktop Development Cross-Platform Native GUI Library) after getting judged by Matz (creator of Ruby). He works at Lexop as a Senior Software Engineer. Andy has spoken at various Software Conferences, including RubyConf (he will speak there again in 2024), RailsConf, and MountainWest RubyConf. He has a master's degree in Software Engineering from DePaul University, Chicago, and a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from McGill University, Montreal. In his free time, Andy drums in a rock band, plays softball/volleyball, curls, and snowboards. He is also a big sports fan of the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Alouettes, Montreal Alliance, and Boston Red Sox.

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If you have a Ruby talk idea you would like to present at a future Montreal.rb meetup, please contact one of the organizers (Andy Maleh or Mathieu Gagné) to get your talk scheduled in an available future meetup month. Note that speakers must present in-person in Montreal because the goal of the meetup is to encourage more in-person networking and socialization around Ruby Software Engineering topics with maximum communication bandwidth. Talks are recorded and posted on the @montreal-rb YouTube Channel if talk speakers agree.