Some RailsConf impressions


So, I’ve spent lots of time talking to people about numerous things. We have had some really nice conversations about everything related to Ruby, JRuby and ThoughtWorks and there is an incredible buzz going on here. Yesterday me, Roy, Tim (Bray), Cyndi, Martin Fowler, Charles, Tom and Nick sat down over dinner with DHH and talked about JRuby, which was also very interesting.

All in all, it’s very exciting, and I hope it will just continue to be. I’m looking forward to the rest of the day, and tomorrow is going to be a new story.



ThoughtWorks, Mingle, RubyWorks and JRuby


So this is something that’s been brewing for a while now, and it’s all very exciting and was announced this morning at the keynote by Cyndi Mitchell. The relevant points are Mingle (which I’ve talked some about already), RubyWorks which is an umbrella for the things the enterprise needs to make Ruby viable. The first product out of RubyWorks is an installable package which gives you the deployment story basically for free. It’s quite awesame and ThoughtWorks will offer 24/7 support for it from June.

For me personally, the most important part is that ThoughtWorks will also offer JRuby support 24/7 from June. That’s right, 24/7 JRuby support. Wow. ThoughtWorks does believe in JRuby, they think it’s something really important, and we want everything to get this.

Find out more at http://rubyworks.thoughtworks.com.



Mingle on JRuby


Here’s the deal: ThoughtWorks first product offering is called Mingle. The kicker is, it will be deployed on JRuby. I have been involved with this for a while, getting everything in good working order, and I’m sure TW won’t regret this decision. JRuby is important in their strategy, and Mingle, as the first commercial JRuby application is a huge deal.

You should go and read more about this exciting news at http://studios.thoughtworks.com/2007/5/7/mingle-to-run-on-jruby.



Ye Zheng joins ThoughtWorks


Sorry if the title gives it away. I’ve been holding quiet about this for almost a month, but now it’s official. Ye Zheng (more famous as dreamhead), who is one of the core developers of XRuby, have joined ThoughtWorks, and will begin work in China in May. He will be much involved in all things Ruby, and will also work on XRuby and JRuby, so we will probably be working close together. I have the highest respect for Ye Zheng and look forward to working with him. He single handedly rewrote most of the runtime in XRuby for the last release, which is not a small feat.

If you read Chinese, you can read more about it at his blog at http://dreamhead.blogbus.com/logs/5155305.html



ThoughtWorks


I have resigned from my position at Karolinska Institutet. Instead, I will work for ThoughtWorks. I am extremely excited about this, obviously. I will start in London in the beginning of June. I’ll stay in London for 6 months and then move to the San Francisco office.

As you may know, ThoughtWorks is doing lots of Ruby projects in the enterprise and are really helping spread Ruby to the masses. And that’s what I will be working with. Ruby and JRuby for ThoughtWorks.

What’s more, I will be doing development on the JRuby core at ThoughtWorks!

As an aside, I would like to mention two very interesting things that TW have announced very recently. First, CruiseControl.rb, which looks very nice, and secondly, Mingle. Both of these products have great potential.

I’m just so excited about this!