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A New Pair of Shoes! by Jason R. Clark While web applications dominate much of the computing landscape, sometimes you just want to open a window on your desktop. Enter Shoes! With a long history in the Ruby community, Shoes is an easy to learn, fun to use framework for writing and packaging GUI apps. It's ideal for kids, beginners, and anyone look for a simple way to build apps that run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. After many years of development, a release candidate for the new version (4.0) of Shoes is ready! Come learn how to get Shoes, how it builds on the cross-platform power of JRuby, and how you can get involved in the project.
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In the talk titled "A New Pair of Shoes!" presented by Jason R. Clark at RubyConf 2017, attendees are introduced to Shoes, a simple and engaging GUI framework for Ruby suitable for beginners and kids. The session emphasizes the need for accessible programming tools that run on desktop environments as a counter to the complexities often faced in web or mobile app development. Key points of the presentation include: - **Audience Engagement**: A playful call to action encourages audience members to chime in with 'Give me a chicken!' whenever they feel inspired. - **Overview of Shoes**: Shoes is highlighted as a Domain Specific Language (DSL) designed to facilitate the development of GUI applications across multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, and Linux. - **Installation Process**: The framework relies on JRuby, with a simple command to install Shoes via Ruby's gem package manager. - **Basic Application Creation**: Demonstrations show the minimal lines of code required to create a basic Shoes application, allowing users to quickly see results. - **User Interaction Features**: Shoes supports interactive elements such as buttons and input forms, showcasing the ease with which programmers can create responsive applications. - **Element Layout and Design**: The framework provides methods for laying out GUI elements simply, using concepts familiar to web designers, thus reducing the learning curve. - **Support for Creative Learning**: Clark shares anecdotes, including programming with his daughter, illustrating how Shoes engages children with features like drawing shapes, fostering creativity alongside logical thinking. - **Community and Historical Context**: The talk dives into the origins of Shoes, originally developed by Wai ‘the lucky stiff’, and chronicles its evolution through community efforts to modernize the framework, culminating in Shoes4’s recent release candidate. - **Contribution Invitation**: Clark encourages audience members to participate in the project, highlighting its newcomer-friendly environment and community spirit. - **Final Thoughts and Takeaways**: The concluding remarks underscore the excitement surrounding the upcoming capabilities of Shoes4, potential contributions to open-source projects, and the joy found in sharing software that supports beginners in their programming journey. The overall message reinforces Shoess' role as an introductory tool for developing software, emphasizing its accessibility, ease of use, and strong community support for educators and new developers alike.
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