Lone Star Ruby Conf 2008: Javascript Frameworks with Ruby

Dance night at web camp – Frameworks, pick your partner
Ruby developers have a growing number of frameworks to choose from for building web applications. On the client, web developers have a growing number of Javascript frameworks to abstract browser quirks, dazzle users, and make life easier.

So how do you choose the right tango partner for your chosen Ruby framework? This talk will give the rundown on the ins-and outs of using Rails, Merb, Camping, or Sinatra with Prototype, script.aculo.us, jQuery, Mootools and YUI.

Ruby on Rails
Most folks know that Rails has Prototype and script.aculo.us baked right in. But what if you want to use jQuery or some other framework? We’ll walk through the options form drop-in replacement via plugins to side-by-side support for multiple frameworks.

Merb
Merb is catching on with the cool kids perhaps because of it’s install-what-you-need approach. So where does client-side support fit into Merb’s modular architecture? Does a blank slate mean more freedom or more code to roll yourself?

Camping and Sinatra
If Rails is a Swiss Army knife, Merb is a Bowie knife, and Camping and Sinatra are scalpels. What kind of support can a Javascript developer expect for parsing JSON, using Ajax, etc.

Audience is intermediate Ruby developers, comfortable with writing helper methods and installing plugins/gems.