JavaZone 2009 - Meta-programming JRuby for Fun & Profit
This session shows one of the reasons that JRuby is the most powerful mainstream language today: meta-programming. It shows tons of meta-programming techniques in Ruby, including open classes, the shadow meta-class, defining methods on the fly, why Spring doesn't exist in Ruby, building annotations in JRuby, replicating Java features in JRuby, and tons more. And each of these comes with an example that actually makes sense!
Neal Ford
Neal Ford is Software Architect and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy with an exclusive focus on end-to-end software development and delivery. He is also the designer and developer of applications, instructional materials, magazine articles, courseware, video/DVD presentations, and author and/or editor of 6 books spanning a variety of technologies, including the most recent The Productive Programmer. He focuses on designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 100 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 600 talks. Check out his web site at http://www.nealford.com. He welcomes feedback and can be reached at nford@thoughtworks.com.