November problem solving workshop

Thursday 21st November 6:30pm at On the Beach offices, Aeroworks

At this month's meetup we'll be solving a coding problem together in Ruby. We'll all work on the same problem in pairs using exercism before holding a discussion on what we learnt and the different approaches we took.

What is exercism?

Exercism.io is a curated set of programming exercises that can be used to practice and hone your code skills. We'll be working through one of the Ruby challenges, to be revealed on the day.

Pairing on the problem

We'll work on the problem in pairs, often referred to as pair programming. If you've never paired before this is a great opportunity to experience it for the the first time. GDS published a great blog post with tips on effective pair programming. We recommend you read it, even if you've already experienced pair programming before.

I'm new to Ruby, can I still come?

Of course! Our events often contain a mix of new and experienced Ruby programmers. Even if you are brand new to Ruby you'll have the opportunity to work through the exercise with the help of someone more experienced.

Preparing for the meetup

To take part in the exercise you'll ideally have a laptop with Ruby installed. Don't worry if you don't have one though as you'll still be able to pair with someone else who does.
If you have a laptop, follow the installation instructions for excercism before you arrive to save time
You'll also want to install the Minitest gem by running the following command from your terminal: gem install minitest
If you have problems with any of the above, don't stress it, We'll make sure there are folks available to help you get set up before the event starts
Familiarise yourself with our code of conduct so you know what is expected of attendees

Schedule

6:30pm Pre-workshop mingling and setup help
6:45pm Introduction and first half of the coding workshop
7:30pm Break with pizza and refreshments
8:00pm Second half of the coding workshop
8:30pm Final discussion
9:00pm Post-event social

The location

On the Beach offices, Aeroworks 5 Adair St, Manchester, M1 2NQ.

About NWRUG events

Our events are free and open to anyone with an interest in Ruby, regardless of experience level. There is no need to register, just show up on the day! We want to keep NWRUG as welcoming and inclusive as possible so we ask that all attendies follow our Code of conduct. If you have any questions, get in touch.