WindyCityThings 2016: Wow!

 
2016 marked the first year for a very special IoT conference, WindyCityThings. Thank you to everyone who made the event so successful, especially:

• Speakers, sponsors, attendees, and organizers who all stepped up to make the conference happen.
• BLUE1647 for running the IoT Youth Program.
• David Kinney and Amy Kinney for helping with speaker selection and MC-ing.
• South Shore Cultural Center for providing a great venue.
• Ganza Image Productions for summarizing the WindyCityThings experience with a 3-minute video.

IoT for Educators and Students

The Internet of Things (IoT) is new, roughly where the web was in the early 1990s (before Amazon or Google). WindyCityThings is a conference for IoT professionals. This year, we’re offering special discounts for educators and students, especially those involved in STEM.

What is IoT and why might you care? This article will give a brief answer. Let’s start with a 60-second video.  

 
There’s still time to be an early adopter in IoT. Here’s why.

RubyConf Kenya 2016

A big “thank you” to the organizers of RubyConf Kenya for inviting me to present on Parallella and on entrepreneurship. Rich learning and networking were had by all.

I was especially impressed with M-Pesa, the mobile payment system used throughout Kenya. M-Pesa is a disruptive blend of financial technology, UX, and ecosystem management. Local devs are writing financial apps that leverage the M-Pesa platform. Banks are already being disrupted by M-Pesa, and the topic is worth a separate post on this blog.

Comparing Ruby, C, and Go

What do we learn when we solve the same problem in Ruby, C, and Go? How might the solutions differ in flexibility, readability, and performance?

The Hashrocket team presented a snake_case programming challenge during Ancient City Ruby last week. Nineteen attendees submitted correct solutions. Three of the solvers were selected at random to receive a prize: Raspberry Pi 3.

One of the solvers, Jack Christensen of Hashrocket, gave a lightning talk about his approach. The contest called for a solution in Ruby. Jack added two more languages: C and Go.

Ancient City Ruby 2016

Hashrocket launched Ancient City Ruby in 2013 and the conference has grown ever since. Participants come from around the world: Some to speak, some to learn, some to pair-program with the Hashrocket team for days (or weeks) after the conference.

I am grateful to the organizers for inviting me to present Get Ready for Parallel Programming Featuring Parallella this year.