Thinkhole Labs

Snakes and Rubies was held yesterday in Chicago, and it sounds like it went extremely well. Based on the reactions I’ve read on various blogs, everyone was very pleased with the results and came away from the event knowing a bit more about both Django and Ruby on Rails.

Some items that seem to stand out:

• There were significant technical difficulties in getting the projector working.
• Overcoming the difficulties, both Adrian and David gave very informative and entertaining presentations… each with their own distinctive style.
• Quite a few people seemed to have come away from the event with the feeling that Django is good for dynamic websites and content, while Ruby on Rails is better for “applications” on the web.
• There will definitely be both video and audio available of the presentations.
• Lots of Java and PHP bashing going on. :)

So here’s a roundup of the various reactions from across the web…

Charles J. attended and picked up a few nuggets of wisdom.

Daniel found some new respect for Django and mentions the new associations for polymorphic tagging in Ruby on Rails.

Chris McAvoy reports that the event went really well despite some small technical difficulties. He also mentions (as an aside) that a video is apparently in the works.

Rob Lambert has a lengthy and detailed report complete with pictures (with arrows and labels!). He estimates the crowd to be around 120+ with standing room only.

Dean Wampler writes about the software aesthetics of Ruby on Rails and Django. He also mentions some of the comments made about Java and PHP.

Brink at Fleshy Organs has some pictures and points out the difference in presentational styles between the two speakers. He also notes that there was a considerable amount of PHP bashing going on, including David comparing PHP to the Devil!

The Desperate Pundit has a Snakes and Rubies recap, saying he was impressed with both Adrian and David’s presentations. There’s also a mention of how Django and RoR are like WebObjects.

Eric shares his experience and some choice chunks of information from the gathering, as well as the best question asked. (Question #42… coincidence? I think not!)

Zrusilla Ugsome has a short recap posted.

Finally, Indroid was struck by the collegiality between the two speakers, and has a very detailed writeup of the event.

Congrats to David, Adrian, and all the other people who worked hard to put together an impressive conference. Sounds like everyone had a great time!

Update: Here’s a photoset on Flickr with some more pictures.

Another Update: There’s a full Snakes and Rubies conference recap on the Django weblog. Also David H. has posted his thoughts and some code.