Ruby for a New Generation

Man, I'm blogging a storm today. I think I'm trying to outdo how many entries I had last month. I'm blogging at an average of a post a day, but today I have like 5-6 posts alone.

In my last post, I said Java succeeded because it's being taught in high schools and colleges. If Ruby (and Rails) would like the same success, they need to seriously encourage high school kids to embrace Ruby, and with it, I hope, test-driven development.

Chad Fowler and the guys at Ruby Central are pushing this notion of a giving community, though charities. Dave Thomas implored audiences to make a tradition of giving to charities at conferences like Railsconf.

But it's time Ruby and its community start to help itself in this charity. Just like the tennis industry wants kids from the inner cities to learn to play tennis (many of those kids opt to play football or basketball instead), the Ruby community ought to think of ways to talk to high school kids and encourage people to develop Ruby on Rails projects.

So here's my idea. Create a Rails school for high school students. Alas, it's a little too late for this summer, but next summer would be an ideal time to get it set up. Heck, open it up to college kids too.

I'd even volunteer to do it.

Well, volunteer isn't quite the right word =).