presentations

Presentations

These are (most of) the talks that I’ve given at various venues (or that I’m working on).

I try to make all my presentation materials available on this page, but that’s not always possible. Also note that I tend to provide additional material verbally that’s not included in the text of the presentations. So you should always attend live when I’m presenting! ;) My presenter notes also contain additional information; hit p to see them.

Presentations are listed in chronological order, with the most recent listed first.

2024

2024-11-13: Fifty Years of Ruby (RubyConf)
- Short URL: http://craigbuchek.com/fifty
2024-10-07: Laziness is a Virtue (Rocky Mountain Ruby)
2024-08-01: Architecture Big and Small (Madison Ruby+)
- Short URL: http://craigbuchek.com/arch
2024-08-01: Preview: Architecture Big and Small (STLLUG)
- This version got more in depth into the people involved in the story, but was not yet well-organized. It’s over an hour, whereas the Madison Ruby+ version is only 30 minutes.
2024-05-30: Nothing is Easy, Is It? (Blue Ridge Ruby)
- Video
- Short URL: http://craigbuchek.com/nil

2022

Lightning Talk: Community + Purpose (RubyConf)
- Video

2021

2021-06-11: Intro to TDD

2020

2020-01-06: Intellectual Property(STL Full Stack)
- Short URL: http://craigbuchek.com/intellectual-property

2019

2019-06-11: How To Conference (STL Ruby)
- Video coming soon
2019-05-01: Active Record and the Repository Pattern (RailsConf)
- Video
2019-03-18: Einstein’s Photoelectric Effect (Papers We Love St. Louis)
2019-01-26: Passion + Giving (St. Louis DevFest)
- Video coming soon

2018

2018-10-08: Ruby Reimagined (STL Ruby)
2018-07-11: HTTP Exploration (STL Full Stack)
2018-04-17: Booleans Are Easy - True or False? (RailsConf)
- Video
- Quote from an attendee: “Craig Buchek’s ‘Booleans are Easy — True or False?’ is exactly the type of talk I look for and enjoy at conferences. I learned something that I can use and that will hopefully improve me as a developer.”

2017

2017-09-18: Why Calculating Is Better Than Scheming (Papers We Love St. Louis)
2017-04-20: Smaller! (refactoring) (Agile Alliance Technical Conference)
- PDF
2017-03-13: Refactoring Ruby (STL Ruby)

2016

2016-11-10: Ruby Hooks (RubyConf)
- Video
2016-08-18: Effective Agile (STLLUG)

2015

2015-11-16: Too Late to Estimate (lightning talk) (RubyConf)
- Video
2015-11-15: Ruby Preserves (Micro ORM following Data Mapper pattern) (RubyConf)
- Video
2015-10-12: Ruby Preserves (STL Ruby)
2015-09-16: Alternatives to ActiveRecord (WindyCityRails alternate; never presented)
2015-08-22: Immutable Infrastructure (Madison+ Ruby)
- Video
2015-08-12: Immutable Infrastructure (SLUUG)
2015-08-10: Immutable Infrastructure (STL Ruby)
2015-05-11: Retrospectives (Mercy Agile Users Group)
2015-04-23: HTTP Exploration (workshop) (RailsConf)
- video (introductory material)
2015-03-19: How the Web Works - Part 2 (STLLUG)
2015-03-11: How the Web Works - Part 1 (SLUUG)

2014

2014-11-17: Ruby Idioms You’re Not Using Yet (RubyConf)
- Source
2014-11-10: Ruby Idioms You’re Not Using Yet (STL Ruby)
2014-11-06: Ruby Idioms You’re Not Using Yet (Lambda Lounge)
2014-03-12: Curl and Wget (tutorial/demo) (SLUUG)
2014-03-10: The Crystal Programming Language (STL Ruby)
- Video
- Source
2014-02-10: Ruby ORMs (STL Ruby)

2013

2013-07-18: PostgreSQL (STLLUG)
2013-01-17: How to Give a Presentation (STLLUG)
- Source

2012

2012-11-15: New Web Technologies (demo) (STLLUG)
2012-11-14: HTML 5 (SLUUG)
2012-06-21: Testing Web Apps with Selenium, Capybara, and Cucumber

2011

2011-08-08: Writing Better Rails (STL Ruby)
- Audio coming soon
2011-07-21: APT Packaging Tool (STLLUG)
2011-03-09: StackOverflow and ServerFault Q\&A Sites (demo) (SLUUG)

2010

2010-12-16: HAML/SASS/CoffeeScript (STLLUG)
2010-10-21: Postfix (STLLUG)
2010-08-11: Features of GNU grep (demo) (SLUUG)
- --count, --context, -A, -B, -e, --color, etc.
2010-02-10: Creating a Web Site From Scratch (demo) (SLUUG)
- Domain registration, DNS hosting, virtual hosting, OS, Apache, MySQL, WordPress

2009

2009-08-20: Git (STLLUG)
2009-06-18: Open Source Licensing: What You Need to Know (STLLUG)
2009-05-09: Open Source in an Economic Downturn (as presented) (Free Software Expo)
- Working Version
2009-04-08: WordPress (demo) (SLUUG)
2009-02-19: Mozilla-based Apps: Miro, Songbird, Komodo (demo) (STLLUG)
2009-01-15: Everything You (N)Ever Wanted to Know About Digital TV (STLLUG)

2008

2008-12-18: Everything You (N)Ever Wanted to Know About Hard Drives (STLLUG)
2008-02-11: jQuery (STLRUBY)

2007

2007-12-20: PHP Best Practices (STLLUG)
- Working Version
2007-07-19: Everything You (N)Ever Wanted to Know About HDTV (STLLUG) (slide show, as originally presented)
- Updated Version (corrections, more links, some additional info)
- Audio - WAV, MP3
- Transcript (coming soon)
2007-03-15: Survey of GUI Email Clients (demo) (STLLUG)

2006

2006-12-21: Democracy Player (demo) (STLLUG)
2006-10-19: Troubleshooting Linux Problems (demo) (STLLUG)
- Follow-up email with some details about what was demoed (username: discuss, password: freely)
2006-06-14: Everything You (N)Ever Wanted to Know About Hard Drives (SLUUG)
- Notes
- Changes
2006-02-16: Financial Apps for Linux (STLLUG)

2005

2005-11-17: Modern Web Development, Part 2: AJAX, RIA, and Web 2.0 (STLLUG)
2005-10-20: Modern Web Development: XHTML, CSS, and AJAX (STLLUG)
2005-02-17: An Introduction to XML (STLLUG)

2004

2004-10-13: Intro to Wikis (SLUUG)
2004-09-16: Mozilla Extensions (STLLUG)
2004-07-14: SpamAssassin (SLUUG)
2004-05-12: File Permissions: A Tutorial (SLUUG)
2004-03-18: Scripting GUI Applications In Linux (STLLUG)

2003

2003-07-17: Everything You (N)Ever Wanted to Know About Hard Drives (STLLUG)
2003-04-23: What’s So Great About Open Source? (Monsanto)
2003-02-12: Why Linux Sucks (SLUUG)

2002

2002-10-17: GUI Design for Non-Programmers (STLLUG)
2002-08-15: Sharp Zaurus: Linux Handheld (STLLUG)
- Original KPresenter format

2001

2001-12-20: Distro Fever: Red Hat (STLLUG)
- Original PowerPoint format
2001-05-24: XML: Extending the Possibilities (ITEC)
- Original KPresenter format
2001-05-23: Rethinking the Process: When to Consider Open Source (ITEC)
- Original KPresenter format
2001-05-23: Turning on the LAMP (ITEC)
- Original KPresenter format
2001-04-11: UNIX Tricks and Tips (SLUUG)
2001-03-15: New Features of the Linux 2.4 Kernel (STLLUG)
- Original KPresenter format

2000

2000-07-20: Compiling a Linux Kernel (STLLUG)