cookies and code

John Paul Ashenfelter also gave this session. He gave a very comprehensive overview of the Ruby on Rails framework and the tools it provides to solve a multitude of common problems faced by web application developers. The context of the session was definitely to draw a comparison between ColdFusion/Fusebox/etc and RoR. No negative connotation went along with the comparison, but you could definitely tell he’s a big Rails fan.

John had some very valid points, but I got the same vibe I do from most of the community experts when they present regarding the type of work they do. In my current job we are attempting to build software that is going to last for at least a decade, or so we hope. We’re making decisions which are not only helping to shape the software we build, but decisions to better understand the business domain we’re working within. I am really curious if most of these consultants have similar concerns? I’m sure they follow best practices and are good at their jobs, but what type of longevity and scale do consultants have in mind? Is the time necessary to build things like canonical data models and SOA’s only available to the salaried guys/gals? It seems like consulting is very project/task-based which I associated with very short term goals. I don’t know, I’m probably off my rocker.

Anyway, good talk John, thanks for mentioning JRuby too!