Testing Rails Apps

A number of us are spending time working on Rails applications these days, and that implies a specific set of tools, common issues, and some shared philosophy around how issues are handled. In this workshop it would be great cover the entire spectrum - from unit level up to load testing. Experience reports can cover tools, techniques, best practices, philosophy, and examples -- all around Rails.

NOTE: In your RSVP, if you have an experience report or activity you'd like to request or present, please share that with the group. It's not required, but it's encouraged.

Peer Workshop Format
This is a five-hour peer workshop that occurs on a Saturday. It will include regular breaks for networking and refreshments. The workshop is limited to 15 to 25 people. The meeting will have a facilitator who manages discussion and presentation questions. The meeting will have a content owner who determines the topic and the speakers for that topic. These two roles will serve to guide the discussion and format, but it is the attendees who ultimately determine what we focus on and what is interesting to them.

The primary building block of the workshop format is the experience report (see Sharing an ER for more details). In an ER someone stands up and tells a story (very informal). While they share their experience, we encourage attendees to only ask clarifying questions. Once they are done, we have a facilitated discussion based on the experience report where attendees can dig deeper into something said, present counter experiences, or can share affirmations about something experienced by the speaker.

Some workshops also have activities (brainstorms, pair code/test sessions, lightning talks, etc...). If an activity is planned by the organizers, it will be announced ahead of time. If an attendee wants to suggest an activity, that's encouraged as well. We try to make the workshops as content rich as we can.

More information on the format can be found on the IWST website.