Is Ruby the new Java? What every Java coder should know about Ruby – and Rails

Even though Ruby was created two years before Java, many people today believe it to be Java’s
successor. Ruby is a dynamic, interpreted computer language, based primarily on Smalltalk and
Lisp. It is completely object oriented (it doesn’t even have primitive types, like Java). Still, it would
not have become half as popular over the last two years, if it had not been for its most successful
application to date: a web framework called Ruby on Rails. Rails utilises Ruby’s dynamic language
features to offer a fast, clean and maintenance-friendly way of developing MVC web applications.
Its philosophy: DRY (don’t repeat yourself); convention over configuration; and TDD (test-driven
development).
So how can you, as a Java developer, benefit from Ruby and Rails? This session will show you some
of the language features that make people fall for Ruby. It may get you to think about programming
(in Java or any language) in new ways. Also, we will take a look at how the power of Ruby and Rails
can be used in a Java environment and discuss why you would even want to. And don’t worry; we’ll
go into the reasons why you would not want to use Ruby and Rails as well.

Prerequisite knowledge:
• Object-oriented programming
• Java
• J(2)EE (JSP, EJB)

Outline of the presentation:
• Answer to the question: Is Ruby the New Java?
• What is Ruby? When developed, what origins, features...
• Some examples of Ruby’s language constructs, compared with Java equivalents
• What is Rails?
• Demo of a Rails application, peek into the code
• When to use Rails, when not to
• Java and Ruby: JRuby: what is it, how can you use it
• Demo of calling an EJB from Ruby
• Why would you want to combine Rails and Java?
• Hopefully: demo of running Rails inside a JVM

Danny Lagrouw  Profict Danny Lagrouw werkt sinds 2000 als senior consultant bij Profict. De afgelopen jaren is hij in verschillende projecten, zowel intern als extern, ingezet als teamleider/Java-ontwikkelaar. Hij heeft zo'n 20 jaar ervaring met diverse programmeertalen, hoewel de afgelopen 6 jaar voornamelijk met Java. Lagrouw is trekker van Profict's technisch competence center, waar Proficters onderzoek uitvoeren naar de nieuwste technologieën. Een van die 'nieuwigheden' is Ruby, waar Lagrouw sinds vorig jaar enthousiast mee werkt; wat uitmondde in de organisatie van RubyEnRails 2006, het eerste grote Nederlandse Ruby en Rails event.