Software Development

RedSnake Philly 2013 has lightning talks on Ruby and Python trends in ‘Search Church’

As comes with active, two-decade-old programming languages, what is possible within the framework continues to evolve. So the third annual RedSnake Philly event, featuring nearly a dozen 10-minute lightning talks, took over SEER Interactive’s Northern Liberties ‘Search Church’ last week to share best practices and bold projects using Ruby or Python to inspire, network and […]

Group shot taken at RedSnake by organizer Mat Schaffer.
Group shot taken at RedSnake by organizer Mat Schaffer.

Group shot taken at RedSnake by organizer Mat Schaffer.

As comes with active, two-decade-old programming languages, what is possible within the framework continues to evolve.

So the third annual RedSnake Philly event, featuring nearly a dozen 10-minute lightning talks, took over SEER Interactive’s Northern Liberties ‘Search Church’ last week to share best practices and bold projects using Ruby or Python to inspire, network and exchange ideas. (Recap last year here)

redsnake2

Photo by Technically Philly

Tom Panzarella, founder and lead engineer at Love Park Robotics, started Red Snake Philly with Mat Schaffer, a DevOps, Rails and JS developer for hire as part of Mashion. The first meeting of RedSnake Philly was an informal get-together of the Philly.rb and PhillyPUG user groups. After receiving such a positive response from the gathering in 2011, the organizers decided to make the affair annual.

Check out Flickr photos of the event here.

This year’s free event sold out weeks before the gathering. Panzarella, Schaffer and Angel Pizarro, the third event organizer this year, explained what it took to pull of Red Snake Philly 2013. What did this year’s agenda have on tap?

  • 5:50pm Pam Selle A Field Guide to Ruby and Python
  • 6:00 Jearvon Dharrie Rails 4 / Ruby 2
  • 6:10 Jeffrey J. Persch Testing Python Web Applications at Scale
  • 6:30 Justin Campbell Using RubyMotion for rapid iOS development
  • 6:40 Scott Determan Vision Spreadsheet: An Environment for Computer Vision
  • 6:50 Kyle Burton The Patterns You Can’t {See, Refactor}
  • 7:20 Dave Richardson C++ templates
  • 7:40 Hector Castro Building Command-line Applications with Ruby
  • 7:50 Dan Williams Using SimPy to Model AWS Autoscaling for Realtime Computation
  • 8:10 Rob DiMarco Building Android Apps with JRuby and Ruboto
  • 8:20 Tom Adelman How the python got it’s stripes: Simulating nature’s patterns with Numpy
In 2012, Redsnake attendees got homebrewed beer. This year, sponsor Monetate helped attendees get Redsnake pint glasses

In 2012, Redsnake attendees got homebrewed beer. This year, sponsor Monetate helped attendees get Redsnake pint glasses

Sponsors of the event included Philadelphia-based companies Monetate, SIG, Relay, Jobspring Partners and Basho Technologies to name a few.

The organizers of the event want RedSnake Philly to become the largest programming and tech event for programmers and coders to be a part of and experience in the region. They also want the city to be recognized for its tech talent, they say.

“This event is by hackers, for hackers, with no fluff. Why do I do it? Because I care. I run PhillyPUG, I’m good friends with all these people. In general I care about putting Philadelphia on the map,” Panzarella said.

Panzarella also thinks that Philly tech scene is coming along. He believes that one way Philly will benefit in the tech race is that the community shouldn’t try to be like anyone else. There are many cities that are commercial web startup hubs, and he doesn’t believe this is one of Philadelphia’s strengths. He emphasizes that Philly has a lot of excellent science and medical technology. The city should be playing up these strengths.

Watch a video interview with organizers here.

This report was done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Companies: Jobspring Partners / Love Park Robotics / Mashion / Monetate / Relay Network / SEER Interactive

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

16 places to responsibly dispose of old electronics in Philadelphia

19 tech and entrepreneurship events to check out before the holidays

Are digital navigators the answer to closing Philadelphia’s tech gap?

Expect high-speed internet at 100 Philly rec centers in 2025, Verizon says

Technically Media