Slides for my talk at Berlin Eurucamp 2013, about the use of Ruby in scientific enviroments and how to foster it. It contains the seed idea for the Alpha Research Station project: http://alpharb.com

1. Juanjo Bazán @xuanxu
Ruby & Science

2. Ruby & Science?

3. Ruby & Science?
FACT:
RUBY IS NOT WIDELY USED
IN RESEARCH PROJECTS

4. Ruby ∩Science ≃ ∅ ?
Why?
not suitable for scientific uses?

5. Can Ruby fill the needs of scientists?
What people in academia need?

6. Research nowadays:
Do
something
Collect
data
Manipulate
data
Interpret
results

7. FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,

8. FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,
It doesn’t matter the research field,

9. FACT:
It doesn’t matter the scientific discipline,
it doesn’t matter the research field,
(almost) every research project needs code.

10. enter Ruby

11. Ruby
Slow

12. Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries

13. Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base

14. Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
=> Not suitable for science?
Small academic user base

15. core research, simulations, modeling, calculations ...
R, automatization tasks, graphs, formatting data ...
Research Project’s code
WHAT?

16. Wide spectrum of very different tasks
Research Project’s code
WHAT?
Speed is not a factor

17. Not programmers
Research Project’s code
WHO?
Experienced enough to tweak an existent solution
Help wanted

18. What help are they
getting?

19. Python
SciPy, NumPy

20. Java
Lots of libraries, easy to find

21. Excel
Really!

22. How can we help?

23. Ruby

24. Ruby
General purpose lang
Increase developer happiness
Powerful & beautiful syntax

25. Ruby Researcher
General purpose lang
Increase developer happiness
Powerful & beautiful syntax
Not programmers
Experience tweaking
existent solutions
Wide range of
different code tasks

26. Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base

27. Ruby
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
Slow Speed not a factor

28. Ruby
Slow
Lack of scientific libraries
Small academic user base
Speed not a factor
Let’s push here!

29. SciRuby
Goal: SciPy/NumPy for Ruby: SciRuby/NMatrix
pre-alpha/alpha state
Active development
SciRuby.com github.com/SciRuby/sciruby
Help wanted

30. Let’s push Ruby into
Academia
Goals:
- Make Ruby known to/used by researchers
- Create an ecosystem of scientific ruby libs

31. Let’s push Ruby into
Academia
Goals:
- Create an ecosystem of scientific ruby libs
- Make Ruby known to/used by researchers

32. Let’s participate

33. Direct action

34. Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like

35. Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like
2. Find your closest university department

36. Direct action
1. Choose a discipline you like
2. Find your closest university department
3. Offer help & code

37. Why?
What’s in it for you?

38. Why?
More Ruby uses => Good for Rubysts & Ruby

39. Why?
OpenSource: Same motivations

40. Why?
Helping Science

41. Why?
Doing Science

42. Why?
OS rewards are good,
helping science rewards are great

43. Why?
Learning about interesting issues & problems

44. Why?
Easy
result/effort

45. Why?

46. Ruby & Science
communities
Sharing information is the norm
Openness is a value
Reputation based systems
Members are welcoming and willing to help

47. Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?

48. Probably No
Maybe?
Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?

49. Can we make Ruby the
programming language of
Science?
Probably No
Maybe?Who cares?

50. Let’s make Ruby
the favorite
programming language
of scientists!

51. Thank you!
Danke!
Juanjo Bazán @xuanxu

52. Questions?
Juanjo Bazán @xuanxu hello@juanjobazan.com
photo credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aai/6936657289
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3dking/148507938/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/morton1905/8638721846
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanegorski/2449377038
http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5865762878