Alive and Kickin’

Since I started this website I used to lie to myself that soon I’ll really take care of the blog and update it more often. This is not going to change. I still have a hope that eventually I will have more time, and I will write more frequently, and Duke Nukem Forever will be released. Some may think that only the third of these dreams has a chance to get fulfilled someday, but I didn’t say the last word.

What kept me occupied during the last months, apart from my daily job?

• The book. In 2006 I was asked to translate The Book on Rails: Agile Web Development with Rails to Polish. I thought it was a great opportunity to learn the framework and even be paid for this. So I agreed. It took three missed deadlines, six months of labour and seven hundred pages. I found out that translation isn’t the best way to learn programming. Yet, it’s pretty good to learn how to write. I had a lot of fun working with the text and arguing with my über smart proofreader and Ruby hacker, Daniel Owsiański. The book will be published by leading Polish publishing house, Helion, and should hit the shelves soon.
• The web app. Everybody is working on one right now so why can’t I? As soon as I had finished the book, a friend of mine, Tomasz Korzeniowski, gave me a proposal to build a small web application. While I won’t be able to write any Rails code here, it’s a great chance to work with a bunch of talented people with pragmatic attitude. We don’t want to conquer the world (in the first release) but we are determined to make the darn thing happen. For me it will be an opportunity to test in practice iterative, user-centered design process, as I’m responsible for interaction design. Soon I’m going to write more about the project itself and our approach.
• The Bootstrap. Well, this one didn’t keep me occupied that much, but I feel really proud of it. One year ago a small group of programmers interested in Ruby on Rails gathered together in Warsaw. We met in a tiny, hot room but nevertheless the history was shaping on our eyes :). While not every one of us was a Ruby hacker, we have been sharing a love for the web and eagerness to do cool things with it. We have managed to meet each month to talk and give presentations. Later on we chose a name: Bootstrap. During the meeting there’s usually one technical presentation and one business one. The technical part is not limited to Rails: there were talks about Django, Amazon services or JavaScript as well. One of the greatest qualities of Bootstrap is the hacking atmosphere. We strongly emphasize technical side of the meetings and that turned out to be a great way to filter out people with ties and passion for the money only. On the other hand there were many presentations delivered by people who created successful websites. And the people who successfully learned from own mistakes. Thanks to Bootstrap I had a chance to meet brilliant individuals like Adam, Marcin, Daniel, Darek, Witold and many others. The next event will take place on 22nd September in Chłodna 25 cafe in Warsaw. There’s no entry fee, apart from an enthusiasm for the web.
• The switch. After ten years of living behind the windows I joined the cult of Steve. Being a Mac user in Poland is a SAD (if not depressing) experience but the faith is strong within me.