Biggest wow factor is the generators. Create a model, create a
has_many/belongs to relationship to demonstrate the the associations.
Then walk on over to adding a simple plugin into the mix, specifically
the ajax-scaffolding and you got yourself lots of impressed people in
a very short time span
Don't rush it. But if you have time afterwards.. show them a very
simple text list of the plugins available that can be included just as
simple as the ajax scaffolding you just tied in.
My recommendation is not to do it live. Record it into short movies
for each step, and play them as you discuss and present.
Just remember how green they really are and don't try and throw the
whole farm at them.
Biggest wow factor is the generators. Create a model, create a
has_many/belongs to relationship to demonstrate the the associations.
Then walk on over to adding a simple plugin into the mix, specifically
the ajax-scaffolding and you got yourself lots of impressed people in
a very short time span
I'm not sure that I agree... the wow factor works for some people... and for others... it can feel like too much magic.
It also gives a false impression that Rails is going to be 10x faster to develop, which managers might latch onto and get pissed off several months after your team has adopted it and stuff doesn't seem to get done as fast at they thought it would.
"can't we build a myspace clone in 3 weeks?"
...or shopify for a few thousand dollars?
Our team has agreed to never introduce scaffolding into the applications that we work on.
./script/generate rspec_model on the other hand...
Don't rush it. But if you have time afterwards.. show them a very
simple text list of the plugins available that can be included just as
simple as the ajax scaffolding you just tied in.
My recommendation is not to do it live. Record it into short movies
for each step, and play them as you discuss and present.
videos are fun but they take a lot of time to prepare and get right. Nathaniel is right... don't do live demos (I learned to never do that again... ). Code samples in a slideshow are effective enough and given your tight deadline... I'd think it'd be less stressful for you.
Rails is much more than a bunch of generators, so focus on the conventions, the community, the adoption rate, and how fun it is to work with Ruby and Rails. If you want to impress the other developers... get emotional and show your true passion for the framework. The audience wants to see you succeed and if they see how passionate you are... it might spark more interest in them to check it out... because at the end of the day, we wall want to be insanely passionate about what we work with... especially each and every day.
I’m with Robby on this one. For me, the most surprising and awesome part of Rails is discovering how flexible and extensible the framework is. Getting away from the rigid constructs of generator-generated code and pushing some limits with your own and learning that Rails doesn’t _de_rail when you bend the tracks a little to get something done. The conventions are great but let’s not forget what our brothers in Perl preach, “There’s More Than One Way to Do It”. Though the “Rails Way” and the “Ruby Way” are usually best for a reason.
